Mono-glycerides & Digylcerides

Resist

food sorcerers

they hide in plastic tubs

to stabilize, emulsify

Beware.

∼∼

Meet mono-glycerides and diglycerides a couple of many food additives that I had been ignoring.  Now they scream at me from plastic packaging that I am trying to avoid buying.  They are listed everywhere—on plastic bags holding  breads and buns; and on plastic tubs bearing sour cream, ice cream, margarine, and so on.

Apparently the glycerides facilitate the union of fat with water-based substances and promote chemical stability.

These chemicals are two of many palm oil derivatives that I now want to avoid entirely. It’s my personal resistance to our destruction of tropical forests to make way for palm oil plantations.  I have resisted food additives for health reasons over the years but counter forces have been strong. Now my awareness of how much our food (and cosmetics) industry depends on a crop that is rarely grown sustainably (to say the least) gives me renewed energy to say “no”.

Another awareness that I recently gleaned (and presumably it’s true) is that mono and diglycerides are hidden sources of trans fats but for some reason escape labeling as trans fatty acids.  So for example, if you buy a tub of sour cream that says it contains zero trans fats, you may be deceived if the sour cream is one of the brands containing mono or diglycerides.

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