Reflections on Transparency

We've come a long way since 1862 when President Lincoln appointed Charles Wetherill the inaugural scientist for the newly formed USDA. Wetherill set up shop to analyze samples of food, soil, fertilizers and other agricultural substances, and his first project involved a chemical analysis of grape juice for winemaking (spodee-o-dee!), which questioned whether adding sugar to increase the alcohol content constitutes adulteration. Jump to 1906 when the Food and Drug Act made it a crime to sell misbranded food products, and then again to 1938's Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which set the tone for ingredient labeling for the foreseeable future (with continuous amendments and occasional legislative partners, like NLEA in 1990, DSHEA in 1994, FALCPA in 2004, etc.).

The ongoing pattern is toward increased transparency of language to identify ingredients on label statements. A good chunk of Americans continue to eat like crazed, sugar-deprived 10-year-old kids with a taboo bag of chocolate bars in a shadowy closet, so federal and industry organizations increase drives to educate consumers on health matters--that what they eat does, in fact, play a part in whether or not they're poised for statins, stents and hospital stints. So consumers begin to read more labels. But they don't understand a lot of what they see, so some individuals--and inevitably some members of the hackle-raising popular press--investigate further to take a look under the hood, like this recent BusinessWeek story: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/aug2006/db20060807_789872.htm?campaign_id=rss_null.

The piece focuses on carmine, or cochineal extract (nothing like crushed up bugs in your yogurt to get consumers hooting...). Personally, I don't have any problems with eating insects. (I mean, come on... We're omnivores ... and entomophagy provides a good source of protein for nearly half of the world's population: sautéed cicadas, roasted ant and fried grasshopper "popcorn," etc.--and I think the going rate is something like 1/2 lb. of unintentional insect consumption per capita, per year... But I digress...)

The fact remains that some people don't want to eat insects--at least not without knowing it. But if food and beverage manufacturers have to begin listing the ingredients as "crushed beetle juice" or some such verbiage instead of "added color," sales of such products would most likely take a turn for the worse (except for some highly fringe society elements, like some common strains of 5th to 7th grade boys...). Not to mention that this is also an allergen issue for a very small percentage of the population--and that's really the aspect that will kick legislation into gear. Anaphylaxis has never had any positive connotations.

Special interest groups (read: CSPI) have been pushing FDA toward revised legislation surrounding carmine/cochineal for almost a decade, and it looks like FDA is finally coming around--for a number of reasons (see http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fr060130.html).

This trend has serious legs over in Europe--combined with a subsequent cleaning of said labels--and has shown some hints of interest on this side of the pond. Although this might not factor into FDA's logic, this increasingly transparent approach to ingredient declaration bears serious consideration for new and reformulated product launches.

Years ago, when some of my idealistic bubbles were bursting during my collegiate political science studies, I surprised myself by adopting a bit of a dictatorial "the public doesn't want to know what's really going on" or "you can't handle the truth" attitude (our notions of existence are so much nicer and prettier, with little bows and such, than nitty-gritty, chaotic, blood-and-guts reality...). I used to believe that this applied to food, as well--particularly when it comes to steps taken in the name of food safety.

But I think the time has come to burst the bubble and come clean--across the board (mostly already there for allergens, but we still have select ingredients to dumb down--not to mention that 800-lb. confused gorilla in the middle of the room with "GMO" tattooed on his forehead that nobody wants to talk to...).

Clarity, once we get used to the bright light of reality, is probably the best choice.