Cyndi's Two Cents

Food label confusion

Commentary.

Ground beef, ribeye steaks and sirloin steaks labeled hormone free are prominently displayed in a refrigerated end cap in the meat department at my local grocery store.  The shoppers gathered around the display case last night were chattering about how hard it is to find hormone free meat, milk and eggs anywhere in this town.

They must have heard my heavy sigh, as they all turned to look at me.  I smiled brightly and said, “The truth is that you cannot find hormone free meat, milk and eggs anywhere in this town – or in this state.  You cannot find it because it does not exist.  All meat, milk, eggs, fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts contain hormones.  All plants and animals contain hormones.”

The young woman with a carton labeled “Almond Milk” gave me a dirty look and stormed away.  It’s probably for the best because I would have had to point out that her carton of filtered water, almonds and cane sugar – which I have nothing against – is improperly labeled as well.

A couple of other shoppers stuck around to talk about hormones in food.  There was a lot of head shaking and “I should have known” comments. One was a grandmother in blue jeans, another a mid-30’s young man dressed in suit and tie, and a young woman in work-out clothes.  I was careful not to be overly intrusive into their personal lives but did ask where they were from.  All 3 grew up and still reside in small, rural communities.  All 3 know farmers who raise crops and livestock.  All had taken science classes in high school and the younger man and woman had done so in college as well.

The man told me he had done some research and recently learned there are only 10 GMO crops available today.  He could list them: alfalfa, apples, canola, corn (field and sweet), cotton, papaya, potatoes, soybeans, squash and sugar beets.  I am impressed by that.  He no longer looks for food packaging labeled “Non-GMO” and said he felt like a sucker because he once did.  The other 2 shoppers looked to the floor and shook their heads.

“I didn’t know,” said the grandmother.

As our pleasant and enlightening conversation came to a close I watched them all roll their shopping carts away and whispered “Good luck with your celiac disease” in a voice too quiet for them to hear.  Each of their carts contained items labeled “gluten free”.  A couple of food packages held items that could not contain gluten because there are no grains in which the gluten protein would be present in those food items.

We’d covered hormone-free and genetically modified.  One step at a time.

This morning, as I shared this most recent grocery store experience with my staff at work, John Perkins said to me “Saying something is hormone free is like saying something is contaminated with DNA.”