You Are What You Eat....Are You a Shoe?....Azodicarbonamide in Your Food!

   Subway is teaming up with Michelle Obama to promote nutritional meals for our dear American children.  How nice.  Subway will spend $41 Million over the next 3 years to “market” healthy food for children.  This includes such expenses as training materials, TV advertising and advertising costs for Media Promotions.  But what about money spent for quality food?  Michelle, where are you?  Consumer Watch Dogs, such as myself, stepped in and the “Fast Food hit the fan”.  There are chemicals in food that are not fit to eat, along with being carcinogenic.  So while Michelle is praising Subway for offering “healthy” food, let us take a look.

At the time when Michelle and Subway launched their “healthy” eating campaign for children, activists launched a campaign of our own to take harmful chemicals out of our food.  The first under fire is a carcinogenic chemical known as Azodicarbonamide, used in the production of foamed plastic, vinyl, yoga mats and shoes. This chemical is ALSO used to make breads, bagels and baked goods to keep their consistency fresh and moist. And azodicarbonamide is also found in Subway bread.  Yes, that’s right!...the same food Michelle Obama is calling “healthy”, contains a cancer causing ingredient that will also cause food allergies and asthma, along with other chemicals not fit to eat.  

It seems that most fast food companies use bread that contains azodsicarbonamide, so why single out Subway?  Because Michelle did.  So if Subway is going to get national attention for being “healthy”, then they should get national attention for making bread with the same ingredients that can be found in shoes and yoga mats.  You see, people are getting educated.  They are taking personal responsibility for what they eat, drink and breathe.  And the truth be told, we are being forced to accept chemicals that can make us sick and eventually kill us. Up ‘til now.

24 hours after the announcement that their bread contains azodicarbonamide, Subway made a public statement on Mainstream Media, that they will be phasing out azodicarbonamide….but the question remains when?...and replacing it with what?  We will be watching, Subway.  But another question comes to mind….why did Mainstream Media wait until NOW to talk about azodicarbonamides in baked goods?  People were complaining to Subway since 2002 to take that chemical out of it’s bread but the plea fell on deaf ears.  You would think we would have heard about this from our Mainstream Media first, instead of from people like myself, writing in local newspapers and launching information campaigns on Social Media.  Maybe we forced Mainstream Media to “come clean”.  Which poses the question, whose side is Mainstream Media really on?  Big Business, or on OUR side?  And another question, do we get the News or do we get Propaganda?

It’s funny how “fear” has a way of pulling the “truth” out of people.  Within a matter of days, other fast food companies voluntarily came forward with public statements on Mainstream Media stating they were also taking azodicarbonamide out of their bread.  Arby’s, Burger King, Chik-Fil-A, Dunkin’ Dounts, Jack in the Box, Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds….so far.  How Special!  If they were such reputable companies, why did they have it in their products in the first place?  Bottom Line.  Putting Azodicarbonamides in their bread saved them money and inflated their bottom line.  They did not care about what it did to your health….all they cared about was making money.  Are you feeling “used” yet? 

And this brings me to the subject of POWER.  Who holds the power?  YOU Do!  You have purchasing power.  For the past year, people are getting fed up with writing to food companies and asking them to eliminate harmful chemicals.  They no longer rely on their elected officials to do the right thing.  They are going to the “front line” with their purchasing power. People no longer want to eat food with carcinogenic chemicals and GMOs….so they are purchasing organic, GMO Free food.  Kellogg’s profits have gone down for the past 3 consecutive months.  Wells Fargo can not understand why stock in soda is dropping like flies, but General Mills finally figured out…people no longer want to purchase food that will make them sick, so Cheerio’s has promised to go GMO Free (We will see).

Another question that comes to mind….where is the FDA?  For years the FDA has taken a pro-corporatist, laissy faire policy about what can be used in food and consumer products, allowing companies to put ingredients deemed by scientific research to be carcinogenic and dangerous into food and get away with selling this crap to the trusting public.  And another thing, azodicarbonamide has been banned in food sold in Europe, Australia and the United Kingdom, so why does it continue to be used here?  And why does Subway take it out of it’s food it sells in Europe but has been giving it to Americans for years?  And, while we are asking questions, why has Michelle Obama deemed Subway to be the poster child for “healthy” eating?  Does she not care about the children of this country?  Or does she not have a clue?

Yes, Power to the People!  And corporate America is dancing to another tune.  People want to eat “healthy”.  Kraft Foods just announced it is taking the artificial preservative Sorbic Acid out of their Cheese Singles that they have been advertising for the past two years as having “no artificial flavoring”;  Chik-Fil-A also announced it will be phasing out over the next 5 years, antibiotic fed chicken; Chipotle is advertising it is going GMO Free.  Yes, food Companies are finally realizing consumers are all powerful and are purchasing Organic and GMO Free Verified food and all the “lobbying” in Congress has NO CONTROL over this!!!  I am thrilled to announce, more and more people are choosing to Live Healthy Chemical Free….(are you?)