Food in The United States vs. Europe

Image credit: kacey.dawn.37

Have you ever read the labels of the foods you purchase? Specifically, do you ever read the label? Even if you haven't, you probably noticed that the ingredients are a paragraph's length. Why is that? Because several ingredients in your favorite snacks, junk food, and even non-junk food are loaded with additives and preservatives. Many of these preservatives are also commonly found in industrial products. Yet the FDA claims that consuming these products are safe. How does this tie in with Europe's food standards? The food standards in European countries greatly differ from America's. 

Several ingredients used to make popular drinks and foods in America are banned in Europe. Some of the ingredients include the following: Potassium bromate, azodicarbonamide (ADA), BHA and BHT, growth hormones, and Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO). These are unnecessary products added to several soft drinks and foods that have been banned for use in Europe. What's so dangerous about these products? Aside from causing memory loss, weight gain, and skin/nerve problems, majority of these contain carcinogens. Carcinogens are substances or organisms that cause cancer. Several studies prove how these products are directly linked to causing cancer in lab animals. The FDA still says consuming these ingredients in small amounts will cause no severe damage. They're lies, of course.

Have you ever seen the ingredients in Mountain Dew or McDonald's versus the same brands in Europe? The European version of these products have a sliver of the number of ingredients than that of America. Let's look at both Mountain Dew and McDonald's in America and England and you can get an idea of how they differ.

Mountain Dew (U.S.): Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, concentrated orange juice, citric acid, natural flavor, sodium benzoate, caffeine, sodium citrate, erythorbic acid, gum arabic, calcium disodium EDT, brominated vegetable oil, yellow 5

Mountain Dew (U.K.): Carbonated water, sugar, citric acid, ascorbic acid, caffeine, flavorings, potassium sorbate, gum arabic, beta carotene

McDonald's French Fries (U.S.): Vegetable oil (consists of canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, and hydrogenated soybean oil), dimethylpolysiloxane (aka the main ingredient found in Silly Putty), "natural beef flavor," sodium acid pyrophosphate

McDonald's French Fries (U.K.): Potatoes, oil, dextrose, salt

I recommend reading Food Babe's article about how products differ between the U.S. and England.

The difference in the number of ingredients is astonishing. Worse, the American producers of these popular foods or drinks don't care that their products contain such toxic ingredients. It clearly isn't impossible to make these drinks the right way, without the poisons they're putting in our food. That's how it is done in Europe. American food companies are purposefully exploiting our citizens with their products. The United States is one of the most obese countries. Remember how gyms were forced to close down, but not fast-food restaurants and liquor stores during COVID? Make sense now, doesn't it?

I know Americans love to tease England whenever they talk bad about the U.S. But after what I have learned here, I have more respect for England and Europe than the United States. At least Europe isn't poisoning their own citizens with these toxic products. I've been hitting the gym and eating right since the end of April, cutting out most junk food places and limiting how much sugary foods/drinks I take in. I don't get the same cravings for junk food anymore. Eating organic and proper exercise is the way to go! I don't have a desire to go to Taco Bell or Burger King anymore. There needs to be more discussion on dropping unhealthy fast food that will cause several health problems and focus on the importance of eating right and exercise. Nobody in the FDA will talk about this because big pharma profits off of obesity and health problems.