STOP! Read Before Eating Fruits & Veggies

Photo courtesy: Thomas Le

Eat more fruits & vegetables!

That is the mantra that is echoed ad nauseam from the doctors' office to parents and everywhere in between. And while it likely evokes memories from childhood of eye rolling, hours at the kitchen table pushing food around, and more, the message has been amped up with the recent push for a more vegetarian based diet from the USDA dietary guidelines. Before you stock up on those fruits and veggies there is a new additive that you want to beware of.

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The coating that is "for your good & the worlds' "
While the last thing you ever imagined would be fruits and vegetables being toxic to you (every kids' dream excuse), the day has come that this is true.

The company Apeel was founded in 2012 as a way to combat food waste.
They have created a coating that gets sprayed onto the food, once picked, to slow down the ripening/decay process. Currently the list of foods affected are: avocados, mangoes, limes, lemons, organic apples, English cucumbers, grapefruit, oranges, and mandarins.
The coating does not wash off and has been found to seep through to the flesh of the produce.

It is what the coating is made from that is problematic.
The coating contains:

• ethyl acetate
• heptane
• palladium
• arsenic
• lead
• mercury
• cadmium

I am sure you are familiar with the toxicity of arsenic, lead, and mercury- nervous system toxins and deadly. Not what you'd expect from your fruits and veggies is it?

Cadmium is "...a toxic metal that shares common properties with zinc and mercury. Exposure to this element can lead to a degenerative bone disease."

Palladium is a chemical, known as "fools gold" in the jewelry world, that had been used widely in dentistry for crowns, bridges and other items. However, this material was found by German scientists to "...cause[s] considerable damage and degradation of DNA and exacerbates hydroxyl radical damage. Palladium also damages cell mitochondria and inhibits enzyme activity and function."

Ethyl acetate (it gets better) presents as a 'harmless' sweet-smelling solvent! (Alliteration surely helps to make it a feel-good compound, doesn't it? I mean how can you be upset at being poisoned when there's use of alliteration? *note sarcasm) While generally used for paints, lacquers, and cleaning mixtures Apeel has added this chemical (to their "non-chemical product") that carries a category 3 GHS classification. What does that mean?:

• Morbidity resulting from single exposure, mobidity or death from repeated exposure
• Significant functional changes in the central or peripheral nervous systems or other organ systems, including signs of central nervous system depression and effects on special senses (e.g., sight, hearing and sense of smell).
• Any consistent and significant adverse change in clinical biochemistry, haematology, or urinalysis parameters.
• Significant organ damage that may be noted at necropsy and/or subsequently seen or confirmed at microscopic examination.
• Multifocal or diffuse necrosis, fibrosis or granuloma formation in vital organs with regenerative capacity.
• Morphological changes that are potentially reversible but provide clear evidence of marked organ dysfunction.
• Evidence of appreciable cell death (including cell degeneration and reduced cell number) in vital organs incapable of regeneration.

No big deal, right?

And finally, heptane. Dizziness, nausea, state of intoxicaton...just getting drunk on the goodness of fruits and veggies, right?

I included links to all the above chemicals. I highly encourage you to read about them for yourself, especially considering the focus of my sharing is to motivate and equip you to read and question everything.

While you are reading you may note that, yes, small doses are generally regarded as safe (GRAS). This is a term the FDA slaps on many products (you know, until years later when the lawyers are advertising their class action lawsuits). Keep in mind that while it might be considered OK in small doses 1. your body does not metabolize these materials and will encapsulate them in a protective layer of fat and store somewhere in the body-much like you might do with something too stressful to handle immediately, just put an "I'll deal with it later" post it and stash away in your stuff drawer forever 2. the GRAS labeling does not take into account the amount of produce a person may consume in one day, much less the course of a month nor add to that other products a person consumes that also contain these chemicals and/or their environment (if only life were a petri dish, then the FDA claims would be faultless).

Other considerations
If you're not convinced now that you must be weary of the fruits and veggies you consume, there's more. Apeel claims their coating is derived from plants, just taking what nature provides and adding it to nature to make nature work better....yeah something about that concept doesn't make sense. Anyway, they state the use of mono and diglycerides which are a form of trans fat. If you're thinking, "Wait! Aren't trans fats the most evil fats that ever were?", you're correct they are the dreaded villain of the fat world that are bad...unless you're a World Economic Forum (WEF) and Bill Gates backed company, then they are good because... well because you're a good company and nobody loves you more than the WEF (*major sarcasm).

Also, most people don't realize this, but the FDA does not test products presented to them for approval. While any rational person would believe that "sound science" would naturally be utilized, especially from a government entity, this is just not the case. Rather the FDA relies on those who submit a product for approval to also provide proof of testing as well as the results. This is basically asking the fox to guard the hen house, because he's trustworthy, right? Right. I beg you keep this in mind for all products and take the time to research, research, research.

What you can do
Hopefully you've garnered from this more than a sense of bio-weaponization of the food supply and more than increased anxiety. I cannot stress enough the importance of reading labels and being active in your shopping experience (your health is not a priority to anyone but you).

What you can do is first check to find out where Apeel is being sold in your area. Go to the website, type in your town + radius to include where you shop and it will tell you exactly what stores carry Apeel products and sometimes the exact fruit/veggie that is sold with it.

Next, switch to buying local-ONLY.
While this means that you will be limited to what produce you can consume, it also means you are getting quality food that is not tampered with. Here is a list of the harvest season for NYS. Plan ahead, learn to can and freeze for the winter season, also know your farmer (make sure you know if chemicals are used, aka pesticides, or not). Yes, this all will take more action on your part and consume more of your time, but isn't your health worth it? I think so. 

Overwhelmed? I can help you get started and you take the wheel from there.
[Quick overview video]