Bbc Programme Last Night (7 Days Left To Watch)

gfp · September 2, 2008

One thing continually makes me angry is the lack of healthy gluten-free food.

I go to a 'heathfood' shop to buy gluten-free food and get food full of chemicals and food not really fit for human consumption (like soya).

So last night I saw a BBC program on the junk they put into food.

This is a bit like a UK Penn and Teller and Americans might find the accents a little 'thick'

Open Original Shared Link

Quote
Alex discovers manufacturers with ingenious ways of transforming poor ingredients into something that looks and tastes like good food. He unearths hidden horrors, from substitute cheese to beef connective tissue, and even creates and markets his own substandard food.

The program investigates what is legally put into food. (UK laws)... he then sets out to create the most unhealthy combination possible that people will actually EAT. He consults with nutritionists to see how he can make the food as unhealthy as possible and uses the most disgusting ingredients he can find (based on REAL food sold in catering suppliers)

Though non of this is specifically celiac related the program links to Open Original Shared Link

This is an organisation that analyse 'snack food'. The link takes you to the glutano snacks.

gfp · September 2, 2008

Ooops

Forgot to say, this program mentions the connection of auto immune diseases and junk in food several times...

Its certainly not the focus of the prog but it's mentioned,

ravenwoodglass · September 2, 2008

Tried to go to the first link but that is only available in the UK. The second link did work though and has info on not just the ingredients but what they actually are. I will be saving that one in favorites.

We have a program available on BBC here in the US where a woman helps people who have out of control issues with food. Can't think of the name of it at the moment but they did a segment on a couple who lived on junk food. They spread a table with the ingredients of stuff they ate. Ususally she just piles a week worth of their consumption in front of them. That's shocking enough but when she put those ingredients out there for the hot dogs...well let's just say it was nauseating. I doubt the woman ever ate another one.

gfp · September 2, 2008

ravenwoodglass said:
Tried to go to the first link but that is only available in the UK. The second link did work though and has info on not just the ingredients but what they actually are. I will be saving that one in favorites.

We have a program available on BBC here in the US where a woman helps people who have out of control issues with food. Can't think of the name of it at the moment but they did a segment on a couple who lived on junk food. They spread a table with the ingredients of stuff they ate. Ususally she just piles a week worth of their consumption in front of them. That's shocking enough but when she put those ingredients out there for the hot dogs...well let's just say it was nauseating. I doubt the woman ever ate another one.

Sorry, they must have put an IP restriction on it.

Give me some time and I'll try and think of a way of bypassing it ... if anyone is interested in watching that is.

They did some 'sausages' on this one. Well they were not even allowed to be called sausages because they need to contain 23% meat minimum so they called them 'bangers' ( a british slang term for sausages)..

He reverse engineered the ingredients from the labels and with a food scientist and then sets about getting the ingredients.

He goes to a butcher and asks for "beef connective tissue" and the butcher tells him he throws it all away.... can I get some from the bin he asks ...

Anyway, the butcher lets him then he finds out he can't sell it as food legally because its been in the bin. So he goes back, explains what he's doing and the butcher gives him some ... he repeats this for all the ingredients ... until he has enough to make sausages and then goes to the 'good food show'.

He actually gets a butcher to help him grind the cartilage and stuff up... (at the show though they wreck the commercial grinder) and then they make the 'bangers' and give them away.

He has all the raw ingredients laid out in proportions and then shows people what they just ate....

I was in stitches watching it.... he then goes to the wholesaler who sells them to the catering industry and asks awkward questions... the TV chef Gordon Ramsey endorses the wholesaler so he's at the food show and he goes up to ask his advice on how to grind cartilage up to make the bangers he endorses. Gordon is not very happy (they had several threats from his lawyers)...

Eventualy the nutritionists tells him the food is unhealthy but he can make it more unhealthy by adding hydrogenated fats so he makes the sausages into pies using a hydrogenated fat crust.

He pays a marketing company for the marketing and comes up with a nice package and meaningless claims (the most ridiculous of which is dolphin friendly)

Then he goes to a supermarket and tries to sell them.... when they say they don't sell items with those ingredients he pulls out items from their shelves containing them.

Finally he decides that he can't sell them to the public with the packaging so he sees the marketing people and gets told he can sell them to caterers since they don't have to reveal the ingredients in served food.

All in all.... it made me glad I don't eat that crap.