"Ice Cream"

Amelia House

The following piece is a satirical news article—a style of fiction that pretends to report the news in an attempt to criticize something in real life.

 

Many people are questioning why Americans are eating foods that are sold in the United States but banned in other countries. There is concern from the public that these foods may be posing a serious health concern to our citizens. However, there seems to be little to no concern from the FDA who allows these ingredients in our foods. Even with some set regulations from the FDA, companies guilty of adding harmful components tend to find ways around it. This puts the people who do not take the time to check the ingredients and consider if they may be unsafe, at risk.

 

I’m here with Poppy Perry, the plant manager at Gas Foods where they make thousands of food items with artificial food dye in them. “We have to wear masks because the chemicals from petroleum used in our dye can be dangerous for our workers to breathe in. It is the main ingredient used in our artificial food dyes,” Perry explains. The fumes from petroleum are not safe to breathe in because they contain chemicals that may cause health issues, but Americans regularly eat food items containing these dyes.

 

The FDA allows artificial dyes in our food even though it contains the same chemicals as petroleum, an ingredient also used to make gas, diesel, and tar, claiming that “it fuels our cars, so it should fuel humans too!” 

 

Many ingredients that are not banned in the U.S. have been banned in other countries. This includes artificial dyes, brominated vegetable oil, olestra, arsenic, BHA, BHT, etc., but do not worry, they are “safe” in the United States. These ingredients are found in the most common foods like cereal, gum, milk, boxed pasta, french fries, poultry, soda, candy, and other items easily found on the shelf at grocery stores. 

 

Many people eat these foods on a daily basis and believe they are not unhealthy. They are not concerned with the number of bug fragments in their peanut butter, maggots in their cherries, or rodent hairs in their cinnamon. FDA worker Terry Topper says, “Everyone eats a few bugs in their lifetime, what's the big deal?” So, until hundreds of people drop dead because of foods containing dangerous ingredients, there is no problem.