Silly Foodstuff
By Dean L. Jones, CPM
The USA’s food supply has undertaken severe twists and turns over the past century, moving it far away from being a source of nutritional substance. The food supply is odd to say the least as a large variety of packaged food is close to being a collection of anonymous stuff. The country’s dependency on the food industry has given carte blanche to replace human nature by suppressing the instinct to secure food by hunting and/or harvesting crops. Today we conveniently await the management of a store to price, place, and promote a packaged product on the shelf to satisfy our hunting and harvesting makeup.
Poorly, the food industry delivers foodstuff items that are frequently hard to determine if it is even fit for human consumption. For example, the General Mills food company presently plans to reintroduce their line of “Monster” cereals under the disguise that it is appropriate for the upcoming Halloween season. These foodstuff items are all targeted at children as an idyllic mealtime entrée, including the discontinued Frute Brute (once Fruit Brute), and Fruity Yummy Mummy boxed cereals.
This product ramp up also shows how silly merchants are as they overtly offer for sale ill-intentioned foodstuff to children, with the blessing of parents buying the foodstuff. Like Count Chocula ‘breakfast cereal’s’ suggested one serving size (a cup) has 3 teaspoons of processed sugar. The Frankenberry cereal’s serving size is 33 grams and 10 grams of it is processed sugar, and the one cup serving of Boo Berry cereal is comprised of 3½ teaspoons of processed sugar. Added sugar used as an ingredient in processed foods, such as sodas, energy drinks, and candies are examples of foodstuff with routinely having zilch nutritional value.
General Mills’ idea of bringing back these sugar-laden products is silly since the executives are fully knowledgeable about the ill health issues caused from eating too much processed sugar. Their rationale is centered around what they perceive as customers wanting to experience nostalgia to eat their favorite childhood cereal. Which is poppycock, since General Mills is undoubtedly just wanting to go back to higher revenues.
Similarly, the Quaker Oats company operates under the anecdotal social media hype that the customer outcry would be horrendous if they ever discontinued their coveted Cap’n Crunch cereal, which has 3 teaspoons of processed sugar for each ¾-cup suggested serving size. The media allowed the public to witness a related situation when the Twinkie product was removed from store shelves and there was a rush to buy the last items. This shows how consumers are easily fooled, but in reality we know how to get over obsessions a lot faster than food manufacturers can cope with lost revenues. For instance, consumers had no problem getting over the of demise giant pickles at liquor store counters and nickel scoop ice crème cones.
www.SugarAlert.com
Dean Jones, Ethics Advocate, Southland Partnership Corporation (a public benefit organization), contributes his view on health attributes derived from foods & beverages.
