The Curious Chemicals We Consume

My guilty pleasure is the taste of battery acid. In this case I’m talking about Mountain Dew, a pop that is not particularly an energy drink- but is definitely just as acidic. I am not personally irked by the bright neon pee color of the drink, but perhaps it serves as a warning to how toxic of a drink it truly it is… 7/10☆.

There was a not so recent case filing in which a man claimed he found a mouse in his Mountain Dew can. PepsiCo responded by arguing that his claim was illogical, as (allegedly) the components of the drink would completely dissolve the mouse before it reached store shelves.

This statement by PepsiCo contributes to a large conversation surrounding what we consume in the modern day. I think a good contender for discussion is the chemical red 40 and its sister substances like yellow 5. The average consumer is unaware of exactly what these chemicals are, but aware that they are harmful to humans– yet rampantly included in many processed foods sold at grocery stores.

This inclusion of harmful chemicals in products meant for human consumption shows a significant disregard for the health of the average consumer. I fear that many modern day products value profit and cheap efficiency over true quality and care for the consumer.

However, I would like to in part blame the consumer for their common malpractice and blatant trust in large corporations. I- like many individuals- am not the type to read over every single ingredient list. So, I don’t doubt that I too am a voluntary victim of chemical consumption. That being so, I still believe nutritional compositions should be investigated when considering the choices of food we eat. We should not fall in believing that every processed snack containing strawberry (which is most like strawberry powder… and little percentages of it) are truly “healthy” when you account for the other 14 never heard of chemicals that make up a majority of the ingredient list.

Will you and I continue to consume such unknown substances in the likely future? Truthfully, the answer will forever be a resounding yes. Such corporations control much of the processed food market. So no matter how much flack they receive for their poor choices in product creation, it is inevitable that they will pay their way out of it. I leave this not as discouragement, but a grounded reality that corporations fight our desire to consider what we consume.