First, take some enzymes...

I have just listened to The Food Programme on Radio 4 and I can safely say that I am shocked. Although the ingredients that go into mass-produced food have long given food campaigners cause for concern, the programme demonstrated that labelling regulations, supposedly beefed-up to provide complete transparency for the consumer, are far from satisfactory now that the industry is trying to convince us that ingredients they use are 'natural'. An example included they used in the programme was the presence of "vegetable flavourings (radish)" in some bakewell tarts. Leaving aside the obvious question - what recipe from hell are they following that requires "vegetable flavourings" as well as five types of sugar and water as the fourth of fifth largest ingredient by proportion? - there is a requirement to explain exactly what an ingredient is doing in the food. Now, the industry will claim that they have done this - the radish is labelled as a flavouring. However, if we dig a little deeper, flavourings are often included so that the cheaper, unnatural ingredients that would cause the food to taste 'wrong' are masked. In effect, a plethora of extraneous ingredients may be included to produce a taste that could be achieved by merely making the product with the ingredients it is 'supposed' to contain. 'Orange flavour' may have absolutely nothing to do with an orange. There are many companies that analyse the make-up of flavours, identify the molecular component responsible and then use that to manufacture flavourings on an industrial scale. 'Orange flavour' sounds natural, 'mass-produced chemical that smells like orange' less so. The bottom line is cost: industrially-produced flavourings are cheaper.

Another eye-opener was the extensive use of enzymes in food production. These can be used in various areas of food production but, because they are technically not present in the final food product, they do not have to be declared on the label under current EU legislation. However, their effects on health are unknown and we, the consumers, are not generally aware of their use because of their non-appearance in the list of ingredients. However, if you can use an enzyme to make a fresh, young cheese taste like a mature, aged cheese, it saves the producer the expense of having to actually store the cheese and age it naturally.

The best quote, therefore, came when someone from the food industry said that the majority of consumers are not that interested in the minutiae of ingredients listings or knowing exactly why particular ingredients are in the food we eat and that we should just trust the food producers. Coming relatively soon after the 'horse meat in lasagne' scandal, I think that is a pretty bold statement to make! The bottom line is this: the need to keep production costs low means you and I get what you pay for. If the product is cheap, then more 'flavourings' will be have to be included and strange ingredients will appear on the label. People may scoff at the cost of artisanal foods, but the fact is, they are that price because they really do contain 'natural' ingredients and not some simulacrum of 'naturalness'. Pay for quality or, better still, make it yourself. Then you'll really know what's in your food.