The Secret Life of Food

What I Learned Today, inspired by a Burt’s Bee’s national ad campaign has embarked on a journey to understand what really goes in to the products she uses. Taking the campaign’s question “Have You read Your Labels Lately” to heart, she dives deep into the mysterious web of ingredients that make up processed foods. A fascinating look into everyday items that have a surprising back story.

An excerpt from part 1:

Part 1: My Yogurt

Yoplait Strawberry Contains: cultured pasteurized grade A low fat milk, sugar, strawberries, modified corn starch, high fructose corn syrup, nonfat milk, kosher gelatin, citric acid, tricalcium phosphate, natural flavor, pectin, colored with carmines, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3.

cultured pasteurized grade A low fat milk: It’s cultured, which means bacteria has been added to it to ferment the lactose and galactose (milk sugars) and convert them into lactic acid. Milk is fermented in order to increase the shelf-life, add taste, and increase digestibility. It’s pasteurized, which means it’s been heated to destroy some viable pathogens. It’s Grade A, meaning it complies with the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments “Grade A” milk program, which is based on the FDA’s Pasteurized Milk Ordinance requirements to be shipped interstate. It’s low fat which mean it’s gone through a centrifuge which separates the fat from the the rest of the product.

sugar: This either comes from the sugarcane or the sugar beet.

strawberries: Strawberries.

modified corn starch: This is made by removing the starch from the corn through a fermentation process and a centrifuge. The starch is dried and modified, typically with inorganic acids, to become a fat substitute and to act as a thickener for the yogurt.

What I Learned Today: “Have You Read your Labels Lately?”

[via Kottke]