In this modern age, the average American relies on the local grocery store for all of their dietary needs. These stores and their proprietors have become trusted aspects of society, expected to provide healthy and safe culinary options. As a whole, these venues are a model of efficiency; most stores provide several options while maintaining a respectable level of safety.
Unbeknownst to most, however, is that these stores may be selling certain essentials that are potentially hazardous. Amongst the ranks of possibly harmful items is store-bought bread.
Although the incredibly numerous options stocked on shelves have led people to believe that there must be an underlying health standard, the truth is far less illustrious. In actuality, even this fundamental foodstuff has been corrupted by chemicals and attempted optimization.
First and foremost, it is important to acknowledge the hostile economic climate for farmers. Agriculture has degraded from an essential industry to a wounded economic sector, highly dependent upon government subsidies and price controls.
In order to bring some sort of security and routine to an endemically uncertain business, farmers and producers have been cultivating their crops with pesticides, herbicides, and preservatives. These chemical measures do not simply disappear by simply dousing the crops in water. Indeed, these items can potentially taint the crop permanently.
After the grain has been reaped, it is ground into viable flour, and further artificialities are added. These are chemicals that are designed to create “white” breads, which predominate supermarket sales.
The items added to the chemical cocktail include chlorine and nitrogen dioxide. Both items are potentially lethal if inhaled in large enough quantities. It is important to note that one will not die from a single instance of consumption. Having said that, it’s also important to know that the European Union has banned most of the things that are used to make white bread, including the chlorine that was just mentioned.
Extra-national governments aren’t the first to notice the lack of nutrition in store-bought bread. In 1941, the United States government formally recognized the lack of nutrition in these commercially viable breads.
They mandated by law certain additives to augment the formula so as to improve the overall health of the nation.
Even though no definitive study has been able to find a link between grocery store breads and cancer, health organizations around the world are still very worried about it.
Considering that bread has been a staple in the human diet for an estimated 30,000 years, the idea that it may soon become (or could currently be) toxic is certainly frightening. Perhaps this definitively proves once and for all that convenience does not always equate to benefice.
