If you want to know exactly what is in your food, then you may want to check out the following website. I can be a very useful tool if you are trying to avoid certain food ingredients because of food allergies or other health considerations.
FoodEssentials.com lists all of the ingredients in many different common foods that you can find in your supermarket. Much more than a general ingredient list, this website lets you find out what exactly is in your favorite brands, from natural ingredients to those odd-sounding mono-sodo-ide thingees.
Another nice thing about this website is that it offers a lot of explanation and information about ingredients. So if you are wondering whether or not you should be eating some of those things you can’t pronounce, you can look them up and find out exactly why they are in your ice cream. It will tell you when something is a preservative, flavoring, coloring or just something that keeps the product from falling apart.
When we buy products, I try to avoid two things at least. The first is shellfish because of an allergy. There have been a number of times when I have purchased something in the store and brought it home, only to discover later that it was made on equipment shared with shellfish. A good example of this are boxes of macaroni and cheese that I wound up having to give away.
Yup, the site lists all of those extra ingredients that may also be in your food.
The other thing we have been trying to avoid is all but natural food coloring. It is everywhere. Did you know that marshmallows contain blue food coloring or that frozen waffles have yellow food coloring? FoodEssentials.com does.
The website is free to use, although they also do sell an iPhone app, and that is the first thing you will see when you visit the site. Click on the “Home” link, and you’ll be able to look up your food at no charge.
I have to warn you though that looking up things can be take a strong stomach if you are fresh ingredients and health food minded. My husband’s favorite store bought snack, for example, has at least 21 things that you might expect to find in a high school chemistry lab rather than in a snack. Anti-foaming agent anyone?