The Pharmacy(tm)

Some interesting tid-bits that you probably didn’t know about everyday food:

Apart from the price, and (obviously) the color, there is no difference between brown and white eggs. What is inside the shell is exactly the same, why they look different is because white eggs come from the more prevalent white-feathered hens, and brown eggs come from the less-common red feathered variety.

Fresh TV dinners contain far more preservatives than their frozen counterparts.

Not all low-fat spreads are suitable for vegetarians, as the lower the fat content the more likely the spread is to require a setting agent to hold it firm, and the most commonly used is gelatine. Read the labels carefully.

Nut allergies appear to be on the rise becaue so many products have ground nuts in them now as a cheap bulking agent.

The chemicals in the most commonly used pesticides have been linked with declining sperm counts and rising rates of breast cancer.

The earliest recorded examples of food additives came in the 15th centruy when unscrupulous merchants were mixing gravel and bits of bark with the pepper they were selling.

Vanilla flavoring is a by-product of the petroleum industry, vanilla essence is extracted from vanilla plants.

Unsalted butter will usually be better quality, as manufacturers are aware that the salt will mask all sorts of flavoring imperfections.

By (US) law, food labels cannot feature pictures of items they don’t contain: if a yogurt has a picture of a raspberry on the pot, then there has to be some real raspberry content.

source: The Book of Secrets