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Jenn Savedge

Safer mac n' cheese, please

Why does the American version of this family favorite have more chemicals than the European variety?
Thu, Aug 27 2009 at 1:00 PM EST
Read more: KID FOODS, RAISING HEALTHY KIDS

So, for a little light reading lately I've been perusing The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick, by Robyn O'Brien. As you can probably surmise from the title, the book is filled with all kinds of frightening background and tidbits on the food that's on store shelves these days. One issue in particular struck a nerve with me ... not so much because it's my family's favorite ... but because it is one of America's favorite foods: mac n' cheese.
 
Would you believe that last year the good folks at Kraft decided (with a little consumer prompting) to remove artificial colorings, like yellow #5, and chemical sweeteners like aspartame, from the products that they distribute in Europe, Australia and other developed countries. But, it seems they haven't removed these chemicals and colorings from the mac n' cheese that they distribute in the U.S. Why? Because they didn't think we'd notice.  
 
How infuriating!
 
I immediately hit the Web to learn more about this, and I found that blogger Joan Blades over at MomRising.org recently came to the same conclusion that I did. She's launching a letter-writing campaign to get the folks at Kraft to value the health of Americans as much as they do those in other countries. Here's an excerpt from her post:
 
"Join us in sending Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld a letter asking that Kraft value the health of our children as highly as they value the children in other countries. And please then share this email with friends and family so that they too can send a letter."
 
 
Come on everyone, let's join together and make sure that our voices are heard on this one!
 

Photo: Chandra Marsono

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Comments(4)

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Posted By MNN User - Tue, Sep 01 2009 at 7:01 PM EST

Its so easy to make your own.....

The excuse that making mac and cheese from scratch takes to much time just doesn't wash with me. If people learned better time management not only could they make most meals from scratch and in less time but they would save money as well.

Buy a big bag of elbow pasta, melt some olive oil with a dab of butter (no margarine) in a sauce pan and slowly stir in some unbleached flour to make a roux. Slowly add some buttermilk to make a milk sauce and then a dash of worshirshire sauce and then.... More

Posted By Jenn - Fri, Aug 28 2009 at 2:48 PM EST

I agree...

Thanks for the comments. I completely agree that scratch is best when it comes to feeding our kids. I have a really simple recipe that I use for mac n cheese that my kids gobble up. But let's face it, scratch is not for everybody. Some folks just don't want to take the time...and that's OK with me. As far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't have to eat chemicals just because you're in a rush. Especially, when there are obviously chemical-free alternatives to the recipe.

Posted By Anonymous - Fri, Aug 28 2009 at 2:12 PM EST

And while I'm at it...

...here's a practical suggestion:

When making macaroni and cheese from scratch, use Red Leicester cheese instead of cheddar. It'll give you the same nice color as the stuff out of the blue box without the oh-so-wholesome yellow #5.

You owe it to yourself and your kids. :-)

Posted By Anonymous - Fri, Aug 28 2009 at 1:59 PM EST

Kraft? Healthy?

Why get worked up over the garbage that Kraft puts in its boxes? Just stop buying the stuff -- you'll do yourself a favor and sooner or later they'll get the message.

Making macaroni and cheese from scratch isn't exactly rocket science -- it takes about ten minutes from start to finish and you have complete control over the ingredients. You can even go organic if you want.

Just kick Kraft to the curb. :-)

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