- Pacific
Interestingly, 2-methylnaphthalene isn't the only
petrochemical-derived substance found in Froot Loops. The cereal is also made with artificial
colors which are derived from petrochemicals. Sometimes I wonder if eating a box of Froot Loops has more in
common with swallowing Gulf Coast oil
sludge than eating real food, but that's just my opinion.
The question on the minds of many today is as follows: Is it safe to eat breakfast
cereals?
The most accurate answer is both yes and no. In the short term, eating Froot Loops laced
with 2-methylnaphthalene probably isn't going to kill you. Nobody died from consuming this
contaminated cereal. But the bigger question is what happens over a lifetime of
exposure to chemicals.
Is it really safe to eat cereals packaged in wax liners? What about cereals in plastic
bags? What about BPA and other chemicals?
After writing about foods and health
for seven years, I've come to the conclusion that virtually all food packaging materials
have some sort of health risk, from the
aluminum used in soda cans to the plastic used in deli meats. The best material of all is,
of course, glass. Glass is perfectly safe for food contact and it leaches nothing
into your food. Then again, it's breakable and is therefore more expensive while even
posing a safety hazard to children.
My educated guess is that nearly all foods purchased in grocery stores are
contaminated with multiple chemicals. Hence the reason for buying food from farmers
markets and food coops. The basic rule of thumb for food safety is that anything in a
box or a plastic package might pose some risk of chemical contamination, even though
that risk may be miniscule in most products.
This risk extends, by the way, to superfoods
and nutritional supplements packaged in plastic. They aren't immune to the laws of
chemistry, although it could be argued that people consuming superfoods have better health
defenses against chemical contaminants.
Most chemical contamination of foods, by the way, goes entirely unnoticed by consumers.
People are eating chemical contaminants right now, every single day, that are far more
dangerous than the levels of 2-methylnaphthalene found in Froot Loops. Just the sodium
nitrite found in hot dogs is undoubtedly orders of magnitude more dangerous to human
health. And let's not even talk about aspartame, MSG or partially hydrogenated oils...
So to answer the question: Are Kellogg's cereals safe to eat now? Well, they're no more
dangerous than all the other dead processed foods made with petrochemicals and refined
sugar. But I personally wouldn't call those products "safe" in the first place.(
"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Conastitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first." Thomas Jefferson