By Dean L. Jones, C.P.M.

The California GMO labeling bill Proposition 37 was closely defeated 53.1% to 46.9%.  Among many, one very familiar corporation PepsiCo poured significant money to lessen what you know about a product’s ingredients to defeat this sorely needed ingredient disclosure legislation.  As, Pepsico recently released a soft drink called Pepsi Special exclusively in the country of Japan, while researching the ingredients of this new product Pepsico has yet to divulge the label for the North American market.  Nonetheless, Pepsi Special offers a fiber-infused beverage, using the dextrin ingredient to help make its claims that it reduces fat levels in the body.

Japan already sells a soft drink called Kirin Mets Cola that makes the same weight loss claim, which is one reason why Pepsico sees vital value with introducing their drink there first.  The Japanese market is no stranger to changing the landscape of ingredients and consumer tastes as it was Japanese scientists that created high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  Undoubtedly, the next phase of food science is to hoodwink consumers to consume a beverage that promotes weight loss from repeated use.  Closely similar to the phenomenon that exists with consumer’s generating diet sodas sales exceeding $40 billion per year directly from the belief that it will reduce caloric intake, however, diet sodas cause Type 2 obesity, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, kidney problems to name a few.

Food and beverage manufactures will go to great length to be the most attractive product to consumers.  Givaudan is a Swiss manufacturing company of food additives, flavorings and fragrances.  Straight out, their entire mission is to get consumers to eat their food products again and again and again.  Givaudan management literally studies humans worldwide to understand the emotions when they eat foods and target manufacturing flavors that attract repeat purchases focusing on sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savory tastes.  Essentially, these flavor scientists are working diligently to highjack consumer taste buds in order to sell more products.  This includes alcohol, soda, candies, crackers, and everything sold at ground zero in grocery stores.

Something more strange is what another food sci-fi food firm delivers to beverage manufactures like PepsiCo.  The Senomyx Corporation has developed a food additive called Substance 951, which is used to amplify the sweetness of processed sugar in eatable products, thereby allowing the manufacturer to reduce the amount of processed sugar used.  The unbelievable fact is that this flavor enhancing company has a government patent on proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems using human embryonic kidney cells that come from a healthy, electively aborted human fetus.  Eating any human part for me constitutes cannibalism, which fully makes the case for the need to have transparent food labeling laws to avoid the possibility of sneaking fetuses into our food under the Food & Drug Administration’s approved ‘artificial flavors’ ingredient disclosure.

www.SugarAlert.com
Mr. Jones is a marketing strategist with the Southland Partnership Corporation (a public benefit organization), sharing his view on mismanagement practices of packaged foods & beverages.