Where's the Glass?

Glass is slowly disappearing from the grocery store. Plastic is now reigning proudly, in its place. Many food products are now in BPA-free plastic, as though that substitute is an equitable fair trade with its predecessor, glass. No benefits are bestowed upon us with this current substitution. Even styrofoam takeout containers poses their own unique health hazards. Oh, my.

Mayonnaise and ketchup were in glass, once upon a time. Relish and pickles still are for some companies. Will that soon end, too? ... The other day as I attempted to empty a 685 ml. plastic jar of organic unsweetened applesauce, (formerly in smooth clear glass) I was appalled to see an intricate pattern stamped on the inside of this plastic jar. The bottom of this plastic container, was a raised curve, reducing the space inside where product should have been. I could not clean out the contents of this plastic container regardless of what I did. A spatula did not work. Water poured into the 'jar' helped to dislodge a bit more of the applesauce - not all - which was then poured onto the food being given to our dogs. (They eat apples daily) Some applesauce still remained because the interior intricate plastic 'wall' design made it impossible to remove the last remnants of the apple sauce. A great plastic gimmick for the company! Buying the applesauce more often helps their bottom line, not ours. Sneaky and simply intolerable!

Health must always be our #1 priority. ... Plastic and its creators simply don't care. When food is pasteurized in plastic, how do those varying high heat processes affect the 'cooked' food we then eat? Something called EA - estrogenic activity - found in the chemicals, in plastic, is impacting on us in ways, never imagined. I understand plastic's use in 'wrapping' toothpaste, ointments, and other medicinal products. For tablets, too. Delivering these 'medicinal' products in those plastic instances might be reasonable. These items are not 'food' and are being used for very short periods of time.

There are stressors of plastic called light, heat, microwave cooking, dishwasher use, that imbue inert plastic with properties that degrade it when used with food. It then follows that our health is being affected. Are we slowly becoming guinea pigs, again, in this 21st century? Are we being 'manipulated' by 'those in the know' that plastic is a safe switch? Perhaps we now need a chemistry degree or at least a very good chemistry textbook or wikipedia to elucidate us on the properties and perils of modern plastic with our food.

As I shopped for baby food, the other day, the product line seemed lost in plastic pouches and small plastic containers. Organic in plastic? How does that work? Is the world of plastics a good thing for babies, these very early humans whose building blocks - DNA, mitochondria and telomeres - are slowly beginning to assemble into the adult human he/she will become one day? An adult is fully formed. A baby is not! Our children are being exposed earlier and more often to 'plastic' in their diet. I do not recall eating anything out of plastic when I was a child.

Naivety is not my strong suit. Skepticism is. Seeing BPA-free on the bottom of plastic is not a free pass, either. Who decided what's in the best interest of my bottom line - my health? I have seen a recycled glass stamp on the bottom of some kitchen glass items, for sale, used for food. Exactly, where did the 'original' glass begin? I shudder to think. My mind runs rampant. It is all over the place. Has the increased use of plastic occurred because the difference in transportation costs between lighter weight plastic and its heavier 'cousin'- glass - too great a 'burden' to place on the consumer? What exactly is this greater burden, anyway? Plastic is a cheaper alternative, of course.

“You're not the boss of me”, a powerful message, oft repeated by children, discovering the power of words, should be our message, too, to those in the business of food. Maybe we should be saying the same thing and acting in accordance with our buying beliefs. We are an online educated society eating foods that might have been sprayed with a myriad of pesticides and are now processed in plastic jars, bottles or pouches. Food mixes, including additives, flavour enhancers, and preservatives, alongside real ingredients are present, too. 

 

Innocuous words, found on the side panel, seem to indicate that they belong there with the real food ingredients described. Once upon a time there were few lab. created flavours. Now, I have read, there are over 400. How'd that happen? Then we have plastic. The ambush never ends!

Glass preserving jars are available during the summer for the processing of Mother Nature's bounty. A trip to grocery and hardware stores or Walmart, reveals the truth. It is glass we expect for canning not plastic. Even paint and varnish are housed in metal containers. There must be a reason, I imagine. 

 

But here in food land where human health should be #1, glass is not the preferred choice for food companies. Plastic is. Why? What is the rational? When does human health matter for a company's bottom line? I guess it matters when we tell them so - at the checkout!