What’s in your food?

What I Learned Today is reading the labels of the food she consumes to see what’s in them and then researching each component. First up, her yogurt.

cultured pasteurized grade A low fat milk: It’s cultured, which means bacteria has been added to it to ferment the lactose and galactose (milk sugars) and convert them into lactic acid. Milk is fermented in order to increase the shelf-life, add taste, and increase digestibility. It’s pasteurized, which means it’s been heated to destroy some viable pathogens. It’s Grade A, meaning it complies with the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments “Grade A” milk program, which is based on the FDA’s Pasteurized Milk Ordinance requirements to be shipped interstate. It’s low fat which mean it’s gone through a centrifuge which separates the fat from the the rest of the product.

Even food ingredient labels become literature with many layers when governmental agencies and large food companies get involved. That’s a lot of information disseminated in so few words.

• food