From instant meals to organic, natural food products , what's really inside our food and drinks?
Fox 29's Joyce Evans tries to decipher some ingredients, with the help of our own Dr. Mike Cirigliano.
For starters, there is triticale, but what is it?
It's a hybrid grain, a cross between wheat and rye
Dr. Mike says for the most part the scary looking scientific names listed are something simple and good.
"Pyradoxine hydrochloride - now that's a name that sounds like it's right out of DuPont when in fact it's vitamin B-6," he says.
It is FDA rated level one and recognized as safe.
And some manufacturers are beginning to break down their additives for us on their labels.
But what about carageenan? It is thickening agent in some yogurt and pudding products.
"Now that's a level 3 meaning levels consumed are probably safe but needs more research on that."
And then there's carnauba wax - found in some candies
"And you can find it in shoe polish and car wax," he says. It is FDA rated level 5
"We don't really know much about the metabolism of carnauba. … I suppose it has some kind of affect in candies when the bottom line is we really don't know a lot about the physiology of ingesting carnauba wax."
Doctor Mike strongly supports an FDA campaign urging people to limit the intake of processed foods, particularly those with long shelf lives and full salt and calories.
