Mouthing Off | Why demonising ultra-processed foods like Bernie Sanders is doing is not always helpful
Bernie Sanders wants everyone to understand the dangers of eating ultra-processed foods, but the truth is, for many, eating well is a luxury
Bernie Sanders, the curmudgeonly American politician, is always on a crusade. The Vermont senator’s latest campaign is to warn us all about ultra-processed foods (UPFs).
This is now the generally accepted term for mass-produced foods. They typically include ingredients with long chemical names, sometimes with a number enclosed in brackets.
These ingredients – preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners, and artificial colours and flavours – are rarely found on their own in common kitchens but they give food a longer shelf life while enhancing flavours. They also tend to be high in either sugar, fats, sodium, saturated fat, trans fat or other less-than-desirable elements.
Sanders wants to initiate new labelling to more prominently identify UPFs, as well as ban advertising of such foods directed at kids – essentially, doing to the food industry what was done to tobacco.
His efforts are backed by media outlets from CBS to BBC airing extended stories about the harm of UPFs.
