Stop Food Terrorism: Wal-Mart dinosaur cookies

August 25, 2012 | DyeDiet

Watch out! It’s another back-to-school season. What this means for the food industry sharks? It’s time for them assault YOUR children; perhaps, not physically but… yes, chemically. For the food industry your children are just a market (see Food marketing to children) that is millions of brainless mouths and stomachs to trick into paying for the wasteful schizophrenic food pollution like these “baked with pride” Sugar Cookies Dinosaur Shapes distributed by Wal-Mart Bakery. See below what this means for you and your kids.

DyeDiet Doesn’t Buy It!

Dinosaur Cookies: Risk, Nutrition and Dye Content

The DyeDiet diagram looks like a warning sign for you: it’s mostly red! I would not be too surprised to find out that this chemical composition of 12 biochemically terrorizing (red segments), 5 friendly (yellow segments) and only 8 nutritious (green segments) food additives was baked somewhere in China. And you, parents, will pay your hard earned money to bring all these nasty food additives into the blood and often brain of your own children! Consider this: You will take extremely high chemical risk of DDFI = 102/25 ~ 4 and about zero nutritional value of DDNF = 25/120 ~ 0.2 that is absolutely unacceptable. Here is more detail on selected ingredients of the Dinosaur Shape Cookies:

Confectioner’s glaze is an alcohol based solution of various types of food grade shellac
Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. The insect secretes it to form a tunnel-like tube as it traverses the branches of tree. It takes about 100,000 lac bugs to make 500 g of shellac flakes
Whey is a side-product of milk processing. This common food additive contains more than 70% lactose and should be avoided by those who are lactose intolerant. The label warns you about milk, “Allergen warning: Contains milk“ but this is 100% lie: Where do you see milk in the above diagram? Curiously, in the same time Wal-Mart is dead silent about 6 artificial food colorants and their so called lakes (11 total!) which may trigger allergies and ADHD (see below) in children and adults
Food colorants. Please read the CSPI document to learn more about every food colorant and health risks associated with it Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks. Red 40 is banned in many European countries because it is an azo dye, despite the fact that it has fewer known health risks than Red 3. Red 3 is another synthetic colorant used in printing inks. According to the Wikipedia, in 1990 the U.S. FDA had instituted a partial ban on erythrosine (another name for Red 3), citing research that high doses have been found to cause cancer in rats. In June 2008, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) petitioned the FDA for a complete ban on erythrosine in the United States. Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 are azo dyes. Blue 1 is aniline-based food colorant. This is what happens when too much Blue 1 is introduced into the human’s body: Blue colon at autopsy. Blue 2, indigo carmine is yet another synthetic color. Please read the Feingold Association’s document Behavior, Learning and Health: The Dietary Connection.
In contrast, Annatto extract is natural yellow food colorant and flavor derived from plants. Of course, it’s possible to use only natural colorants! See, for example Jelly Belly To Be Proud About

For more information on the FDA approved food colorants see Color Additives: FDA’s Regulatory Process and Historical Perspectives and FDA’s PART 74—LISTING OF COLOR ADDITIVES SUBJECT TO CERTIFICATION. For all the above reasons and, as a professional chemist, I do not consider these Sugar Cookies Dinosaur Shapes edible:

Azo dye green Dinosaur Cookies

Do you? If you do, at least, follow this tip: To reduce the risks choose eating only yellow cookies; they colored mainly with Annatto and contain little of synthetic dyes. Don’t let green dinosaurs terrorize your body and mind. That’s what I call “food terrorism.” The Dinosaur Cookie’s place is on a chemical shelf and not in yours or your children’s diet!

Wal-Mart Dinosaur Cookies are in harmony on chemical shelf

Bottom line. I agree, we shouldn’t divide our food on the two categories: “What tastes good” and “What is healthy.” No matter how these Dinosaur Cookies taste to you or to your children, they are NOT healthy. Here is a better alternative you can buy for $2.90 per 11.25 OZ container from the same shelf at your local Wal-Mart store, made in Canada Blueberry Scones of Two-Bite: