Thiamine mononitrate, disodium inosinate, pyridoxine hydrochloride. In this episode of Tiny Desk Kitchen we explore why so many hard-to-pronounce ingredients ended up in a school burger.
I remember liking our school lunch hamburgers (70’s). I know they had to have at least that much soy flour in them, but whatever it was I just liked the texture and I haven’t been able to find anything like it since.
I love how I''m eating an Amy's Organic Bean and Cheese burrito as I watch you open the fridge talking about processed foods and showing Amy's products in the fridge.
@@lazybelphegore6748 it's funny you brought me back here because I was worried I was watching some overly paranoid content about the dangers of processed food but I'm happy to see I was watching a video more or less debunking the mystery and bad rep of 'hard to pronounce' ingredients
But she did say "It's not a one size fits all, it's a great idea for a child that comes from a home where they're not fed as well. Would this be the ideal food for someone who is fed fruits and vegetable, 5 or 6 servings a day, absolutely not." So the burgers are made with the intent of providing for every individuals needs. But every child does not need these "ingredients" and may not benefit from them based on personal home diet or the quality of the ingredient(s). It's a parents job to know!
It's great that they put so many healthy things in the burgers. I used to just stick a vitamin in my kids burger, they do it for me. Thank you NPR for showing me that these schools are serving such a healthy burger, it's a shame the negative stigma of "processed" is making these schools phase out these burgers. Ignorance will do that to you I guess.
For those of you who aren't familiar with supplemental ingredients. It may seem great to put these ingredients into the burger, but many of these "nutrients" are synthetic, meaning that they were made in a lab and are not what would be found in actual food, and they are not the best form of a nutrition for the body. They are difficult for some people to metabolize. What that means is that these are the cheapest and worst form of nutrients for a person to ingest. If actual food was used that contained the best form of these vitamins and minerals, then we would have healthier humans. Zinc Oxide is used in sunscreen and industrial processes. It's made in a laboratory. It's a powder. It is the least absorbable form of zinc available. The best sources of zinc are from animal products. The best forms of zinc are chelates, meaning that the zinc is part of a larger molecule, not dusty powder like zinc oxide. Since the food here is a burger, the best source of zinc would be to add some beef liver to the meat. No laboratory needed. Beef has zinc in it unless the cattle aren't fed well. What's wrong with the zinc level in this burger meat? The best forms of zinc for the body to absorb are zinc picolinate, zinc citrate, zinc acetate, zinc glycerate, and zinc monomethionine. Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3. It is synthesized in a laboratory from nicotinic acid. Niacinamide is found in many plant and animal foods, including beef. If a child is not getting enough vitamin B3, then give them a second burger. Too much vitamin B3 is not good for the body. Cyanobalamin is a synthetic form of vitamin B12. It's an artificial form that has cyanide as part of its structure. The best form of vitamin B12 is methylcobalamin. It is found in animal foods such as beef. It has a methyl group rather than cyanide. Calcium pantothenate is a synthetic form of vitamin B5. Again, it is made in a laboratory. Vitamin B5 can be found in its natural state in animal foods such as beef. If you want to add more to your burger, add some liver into the mix. Copper gluconate is made in a laboratory. It is advised not to give children copper supplements. Copper is found naturally in the liver. Add liver to the beef. Thiamine mononitrate "is a synthetic form of vitamin B1, also known as thiamine. It's a stable, crystalline, water-soluble nitrate salt that's made from hydrochloric acid, acetone, ammonia, coal tar, and other synthetic chemicals." Yuck! Vitamin B1 can be found naturally in plant and animal foods. And guess what it's found in...meat and liver. Pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B6, can be either natural or synthetic. Noticing that the above "nutrients" are synthetic, my guess would be that this one is also. "Synthetic pyridoxine hydrochloride is made from formaldehyde, hydrochloric acid, and petroleum ester." Not appetizing. Not only is it made from bad stuff, it's also bad for you and some people are not able to metabolize it--convert it within their bodies into a form that their bodies can use. The best form of vitamin B6 is pyridoxal-5-phosphate (P5P). It is natural and is found in plant and animal foods including meat. Vitamin A palmitate is a synthetic form of vitamin A. Retinyl acetate, a natural form of vitamin A. It is found in LIVER along with other animal and plant foods. It is readily available for the body to use. Ferrous sulfate is synthesized in the reaction between sulfuric acid and iron. Heme iron is found in the hemoglobin of animals. Heme iron is more absorbable and has less side effects. Heme iron is stored in the LIVER. So add liver to the beef burgers. Riboflavin, vitamin B2, is found naturally in mushrooms, plants, and animal foods including LIVER. It is made for supplements through the fermentation process by fungi and genetically-modified bacteria. Potassium chloride is fine if you're deficient in potassium. Sucrose/sugar is not necessary. There is already too much added sugar in foods. Sugar is more addictive than opioid drugs and too much of it wrecks havoc on the body. Maltodextrin, which is sugar without saying that it's sugar, has a higher glycemic index than sugar. That means that it will spike the blood sugar level higher than sucrose. So if you were trying to avoid spiking your blood sugar level by eating meat, eating these processed Franken-burgers is not a good option. Hydrolyzed soy is unexpected in a meat burger for people trying to avoid soy. What an awful surprise for someone with a soy allergy. I guess they would be told what to look out for when they are diagnosed. To be edible, soy needs to be fermented. The spices are unknown. It's never a good idea to not put ingredients on the labels. It's a dangerous practice for people who have allergies and intolerances to not be able to know what is in a food product. So far, I'd suggest not eating over-processed foods like this to begin with. Unspecified natural flavoring is also not helpful. Whatever it is, it was made in a laboratory. Caramel color is sugar heated with ammonium acid or other alkali compound. So, again, if you're trying to avoid processed sugar, you are out of luck. Disodium inosinate [Oops! Editing mistake. I'll fix it later.] milar is made from either plant, animal, or synthetic sources. It can cause problems similar to those of msg: headaches, muscle tension--problems that are not helpful in a school environment. Rather than adding trash to food that is fed to children and is meant for children who do not have access to enough food, how about giving them actual food? If they are not receiving enough food, give them an extra helping. Instead of adding synthetic additives to the food, how about adding actual food to the burgers to increase the nutrition? Instead, they add petroleum byproducts and then wonder why children have problems. Let's hope that too much of some of these ingredients are not accidentally added to the meat. Some of these ingredients are dangerous in overdoses. So, if you are upset that parents who feed their children well don't want these additives in their children's food, do you understand why now? It's not good for anyone.
I wish food had explanations, not ingredient lists. What the point if I don't understand them. Maybe if they were virtual and had explanative hover text, but I guess I'll have to wait for augmented reality to grant me that wish.
Someone brought me back to this video after a decade and I wanted to pass that along after seeing your comment! I hope you were able to utilize tools like that that exist now :) I feel like I've seen a few apps and stuff to inform you about what food ingredients are and what their purpose is. I've even seen some for body care and cosmetics now as well! It can be helpful but you can't get too caught up in it or you'll make yourself too scared of every single thing. It might lead to disordered eating if one is not careful; be wary to not get too wrapped up in the resources.
I know what farmers feed their livestock, I seen a documentary on it. But I think that if it was a problem it would have been spotted by now. To be honest I'd be more worried about eating fish than any live stock. I haven't heard of any link between steroids and fat. The same measures with livestock are taken in all first world countries and I don't see many obese people in Ireland. The only danger with GMO's is gene pollution and contamination with wild strains. That's a very real concern.
Hey at least it isn't the dangerous pearlescent blue slime (that stuff is very bad, linked to cancer and stupidity). Yeah those steroids are terrible, mind telling me what type are on there?? Oh and the anti-biotics too, you've gotta let me know where your lab is and what brands you've tested.
Whoa... they are absolutely NOT "largely beneficial", at least not for the people eating them. They're just sort of useful for preserving and for flavor with tiny (bullshit) benefits.
This is labeled as NPR Science but I heard absolutely no discussion scientific findings here, I know I've read about the phytoestrogens in soy products. These particularly affect children, and these soy products are apparently worse the less processed they are. I also agree about concerns with living conditions of livestock in the US, and the food they feed chicken, beef or fish most certainly will affect the outcome.
Anything that says natural flavoring, you can just about bet is monosodium glutamate (MSG). It's in just about everything these days. Allegedly a flavor enhancer. If our food wasn't full of crap with no nutritional value it wouldn't need to be enhanced. I cook from scratch because MSG causes me to have migraines. 'They' say there is no proof that MSG causes migraines, That doesn't mean it isn't so though. . . and yeah, they forgot to mention the pink slime which contains ZERO nutritional value.
It's too small of a sample size to come to that conclusion. The truth is, MSG and cloning food is in our schools. And...our right to at least know that, has been blocked by the FDA. This is also true as the food in this segment is perceptibly ok.
I get that both scientists and schools are trying to be healthier, but burgers are NOT complicated. Seriously, use real meat, maybe add some seasonings (preferably not as much salt being that we consume so much so often) and just add tomato, onion and lettuce for some of your veggies, it's not hard!
People don't like anything they don't understand. It's the basis of many hate movements, be it against food, religion, other cultures, people, or just chemicals. If everyone was a food scientist, they'd know what to be scared of and not just base it on how long the name is.
You should educate yourself about what the farmers feed there livestock and what there veterinarians give them to grow nice and plump to make more money. But no. There is no link between the steroids we give the animals we eat and the fact we are all fat in the USA. No link at all. The antibiotics that are used on livestock as a preventative measure, has nothing to do with the resistant strains that crop up every year. Its all a coincidence I'm sure. Genetically engineered food is safe too i bet
what makes Americans more fatter is that food is a lot more accessible now and at better prices. I bet genetically engineered food would be great too. But it has such an bad sound to it that people will be up in arms before they try it.
They might show the beneficial sides of ingredients within this specific burger... yet they do not mention the downsides. They just skip over sweeteners as well. Whilst most artificial sweeteners are really really bad! (Cancerous even, like Aspartam)
