Corn is in Everything!

As a health practitioner, I have seen a few clients with corn allergy, and I expect to see more and more. Just as peanut became an ingredient in everything from paint to polish to plastics owing to the genius of George Washington Carver (1864?-1943), America's most prolific inventor dubbed the "Black Leonardo DaVinci". In spite of the fact that Carver was against monoculture, and promoted the sweet potato and peanut as crops to substitute for over farmed cotton, peanuts came to be used in everything, and our bodies have been increasingly confused and peanut has become a deadly allergen.

(Learn more about this hero and saint http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver)

Corn, I believe, will have the same effects in the coming generation. Corn is nearly everywhere you turn, from the stuff lubricating your plastic bag, to candies, processed meats and possibly in every package in your grocery! We have very few packaged goods at home because we shop at Karma Food Coop, grow lots of our own produce (36 squashes this year, not counting the summer squashes...) make our own bread, soymilk and food from scratch, but in my pantry are a few boxes of foods given to us at Christmas, or by the coop because they were discarding them.

Last night, I boldly asserted that I only had a few packaged items in my pantry, self-righteously picturing the clean glass jars and containers, and preserved beets, pickles, condiments, honey and jams and conveniently forgetting... hmm let me look.

Here's some "Low Protein Vegetarian Jelly Mix Orange Flavour".
The ingredients are:
sugar: from sugar cane
carrageenan: from red seaweeds
malic acid: from unripe fruits, more sour than citric acid
potassium citrate: a potassium salt of citric acid
locust bean gum: a thickener from the seeds of the carob tree
artificial flavour (contains soybean oil): hmmm?!?
calcium sulphate: a coagulating mineral
colour: hmmm?!?

No corn, but it's a Cat's Cradle Food (No f!@#$%g cat, no f!@#$%g cradle) because there's no orange in this orange flavoured jelly. My kids were excited to see some form of "Jello" in the house, and had fun making a box, but the thrill ended there.

Here are some "California Pitted Dates" in a cardboard box with a plastic bag inside. Technically, it expired yesterday, but it's dried dates for heaven's sake! We buy them in bulk at the coop, but Aunt Jackie gave them to us last Christmas along with two boxes of nuts, dried fruits and cakes she made for us. She thinks we are starving because we don't eat like normal people, but we do adore "Jackie cake". I am sure it's made with corn oil. She, like evety other member of my extended family, believes that soy margarine is healthy too. But I digress. Hidden corn? No, but maybe yes. The ingredients declare only the dates, but there's the ominous caution: This product is packaged on equipment that also packages products containing peanuts, tree nuts, milk, soy and yellow #5. Are the dates lubricated with something they don't have to tell us about? The dates at my coop stick together - these don't at all! Is the plastic bag lubricated? Does it contain preservatives? I KNOW they don't have to list that as an ingredient.

Ditto for the "Sweetened Cranberries - Dried Cranberries" in the same package from the same "Farm". Bonus - it's a product of USA or Canada! Wow! That's one BIIIIG farm! But wait, there's an ingredients list:
cranberries: phew! at least it's the first ingredient
sugar: from cane juice, presumably
citric acid: flavouring - because cranberries need a tart flavour added NOT! - and preservative - because drying just isn't enough anymore - from any fruits or vegetables, but probably citrus
elderberry juice concentrate: sounds like food!
sunflower oil: once thought a "good" oil, now positioned as a "bad" oil because of it's high Omega-6 versus 3 content. At least it's not corn!

Next I come to the "Real Coconut Milk Powder" in a foil pack in a box, bought by me, by mistake, because although it's Sri Lankan, it's a Nestle product AND it's not even just coconut. I've boycotted Nestle since grade 5 when I found out they murder children by promoting formula feeding over breastfeeding to women who can't afford clean water let alone formula so they water it down and their babies die (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott). The ingredients are:
coconut milk solids: so far so good
maltodextrin: sweet food additive from starch probably from corn in the US, or wheat in Europe. What they use in Sri Lanka is a mystery.
sodium caseinate: a milk protein probably from cows. Boo, we are allergic and casein sets off my sinus congestion REALLY badly.
tri-sodium phosphate: a filler that we use to clean our walls with before painting, this delightful food additive was barred from most detergents and soaps because it's an environmental disaster once it reaches the water system, which make me want to EAT it EVEN MORE (NOT!)
So, yes, it's probably got corn in it, and lots more to make it one of the worst $3.99 I've ever spent.

As a nod to vague Jewishness, I have 2 boxes of matzoh meal, one Kosher for Passover and one not, of course. Both contain only wheat flour and water. My Parve non KFP is in an old school box with metal flip out pour spout - no plastic in sight. My meal is in a plastic bag in a box. Coming from Israel, which of course I am boycotting now http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycotts_of_Israel (Anglican) Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called on the international community to treat Israel as it treated apartheid South Africa and supports the divestment campaign against Israel., the plastic is probably not lubricated with corn, but it's wasted plastic.

Deep in my pantry, I have 900g of hard bread aka hard tack aka brewis. By design, it never goes off, so I suppose I am saving it for the Apocalypse, assuming that the Apocalypse provides for boiling and not baking and there's fresh water...hmmm maybe just saving it for a low grocery month. The claims on the label are hilarious: "Low Fat Hard Bread Biscuits Cholestrol Free!" Really? Wow, who would have thought that you could make flour, salt and water without fat or cholestrol!!! I still love you, Purity, even when you are silly www.purity.nf.ca .

Here comes my big eco crime indulgence: Roasted seaweed aka yaki nori. I have 3 packages of 10 that someone brought me and 1 package of 50, which is my nod to buying less plastic here. No corn here, but 4 zip lock bags that I self righteously reuse, but which will eventually contribute to the killing of 1 million animals a year http://www.suite101.com/content/the-impact-of-plastic-debris-on-marine-l... and poison our water as it breaks down in the next 15,000 years after I am done with my fleeting home made vegan maki rolls. http://www.ask-eu.com/Default.asp?Menue=20&NewsPPV=7566

And finaly, here is a box of "Sweet Leaf Stevia", bought for a catering event and barely broken into. One hundred tiny little wasteful foil-lined packets of stevia extract in inulin fibre (FOS), the first ingredient. What is FOS? Beats me! It sounds like a kinda healthy slightly sweet fibre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inulin

But I digress...

So there may not be a lot of corn at my house, but it is ubiquitous in manufactured foods. For some inexplicable reason, if a food item (allergen or not) is used as part of the preparation or packaging process, it is exempt from the requirement to be listed as an ingredient, thereby "hiding" it from the consumer (think of cornmeal baked into bagel crusts but not listed in the ingredients). http://www.cornallergens.com/new/eliminating-corn-from-diet.php Here is a shocking list of items that MAY CONTAIN or be MADE WITH corn. What a nightmare! The stuff I know I have in my home, although I don't know if it's from corn, and keep in mind that I live with 2 adults and 1 teenager who I DON'T control, I've put in bold. I'm going to be double checking everything and refining this list. And I'm going to look for certified NON corn sources for the citric acid and thickeners I use in my practice. *phew!*
* Acetic acid
* Alcohol
* Alpha tocopherol
* Artificial flavorings
* Artificial sweeteners
* Ascorbates
* Ascorbic acid
* Aspartame (Artificial sweetener)
* Astaxanthin
* Baking powder
* Barley malt* (generally OK, but can be contaminated)
* Bleached flour*
* Blended sugar (sugaridextrose)
* Brown sugar* (generally OK if no caramel color)
* Calcium citrate
* Calcium fumarate
* Calcium gluconate
* Calcium lactate
* Calcium magnesium acetate (CMA)
* Calcium stearate
* Calcium stearoyl lactylate
* Caramel and caramel color
* Carbonmethylcellulose sodium
* Cellulose microcrystalline
* Cellulose, methyl
* Cellulose, powdered
* Cetearyl glucoside
* Choline chloride
* Citric acid*
* Citrus cloud emulsion (CCS)
* Coco glycerides (cocoglycerides)
* Confectioners sugar
* Corn alcohol, corn gluten
* Corn extract
* Corn flour
* Corn oil, corn oil margarine
* Corn starch
* Corn sweetener, corn sugar
* Corn syrup, corn syrup solids
* Corn, popcorn, cornmeal
* Cornstarch, cornflour
* Crosscarmellose sodium
* Crystalline dextrose
* Crystalline fructose
* Cyclodextrin
* DATUM (a dough conditioner)
* Decyl glucoside
* Decyl polyglucose
* Dextrin
* Dextrose (also found in IV solutions)
* Dextrose anything (such as monohydrate or anhydrous)
* d-Gluconic acid
* Distilled white vinegar
* Drying agent
* Erythorbic acid
* Erythritol
* Ethanol
* Ethocel 20
* Ethylcellulose
* Ethylene
* Ethyl acetate
* Ethyl alcohol
* Ethyl lactate
* Ethyl maltol
* Fibersol-2
* Flavorings*
* Food starch
* Fructose*
* Fruit juice concentrate*
* Fumaric acid
* Germ/germ meal
* Gluconate
* Gluconic acid
* Glucono delta-lactone
* Gluconolactone
* Glucosamine
* Glucose*
* Glucose syrup* (also found in IV solutions)
* Glutamate
* Gluten
* Gluten feed/meal
* Glycerides
* Glycerin*
* Glycerol
* Golden syrup
* Grits
* High fructose corn syrup
* Hominy
* Honey*
* Hydrolyzed corn
* Hydrolyzed corn protein
* Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
* Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose
* Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose pthalate (HPMCP)
* Inositol
* Invert syrup or sugar
* Iodized salt
* Lactate
* Lactic acid*
* Lauryl glucoside
* Lecithin
* Linoleic acid
* Lysine
* Magnesium fumarate
* Maize
* Malic acid
* Malonic acid
* Malt syrup from corn
* Malt, malt extract
* Maltitol
* Maltodextrin
* Maltol
* Maltose
* Mannitol
* Methyl gluceth
* Methyl glucose
* Methyl glucoside
* Methylcellulose
* Microcrystaline cellulose
* Modified cellulose gum
* Modified corn starch
* Modified food starch
* Molasses* (corn syrup may be present; know your product)
* Mono and di glycerides
* Monosodium glutamate
* MSG
* Natural flavorings*
* Olestra/Olean
* Polenta
* Polydextrose
* Polylactic acid (PLA)
* Polysorbates* (e.g. Polysorbate 80)
* Polyvinyl acetate
* Potassium citrate
* Potassium fumarate
* Potassium gluconate
* Powdered sugar
* Pregelatinized starch
* Propionic acid
* Propylene glycol*
* Propylene glycol monostearate*
* Saccharin
* Salt (iodized salt)
* Semolina (unless from wheat)
* Simethicone
* Sodium carboxymethylcellulose
* Sodium citrate
* Sodium erythorbate
* Sodium fumarate
* Sodium lactate
* Sodium starch glycolate
* Sodium stearoyl fumarate
* Sorbate
* Sorbic acid
* Sorbitan
* Sorbitan monooleate
* Sorbitan tri-oleate
* Sorbitol
* Sorghum* (not all is bad; the syrup and/or grain CAN be mixed with corn)
* Splenda (Artificial sweetener)
* Starch (any kind that's not specified)
* Stearic acid
* Stearoyls
* Sucralose (Artificial sweetener)
* Sucrose
* Sugar* (not identified as cane or beet)
* Threonine
* Tocopherol (vitamin E)
* Treacle (aka golden syrup)
* Triethyl citrate
* Unmodified starch
* Vanilla, natural flavoring
* Vanilla, pure or extract
* Vanillin
* Vegetable anything that's not specific*
* Vinegar, distilled white
* Vinyl acetate
* Vitamin C* and Vitamin E*
* Vitamins*
* Xanthan gum
* Xylitol
* Yeast*
* Zea mays
* Zein