More Strange Ingredients In Foods

Last year I talked about Natural Flavors and Other Strange Ingredients in a post.  At that time, I talked about an "All Natural" Snapple fruit drink, because it's what I happened to have at the time.  I wasn't trying to pick on Snapple, their drinks are comparatively healthy in relation to many of the processed foods on the market, just making my point about ingredients and their regulation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA: Protecting corporations from consumers since 1906!

Just to show how many strange ingredients a processed food item can have, this time I'm going to show you the ingredients in a Don Miguel brand burrito, The Bomb, Green Chile flavor.  Now I'm not pretending to be a health nut or anything.  I like junk food in moderation, and I really like these burritos, which are available at my local Quick Trip convenience store, especially the Green Chile ones.  They're mildy spicy to give you that Tex-Mex flavor without being too hot.  And The Bomb is a nice, big 14 ounce burrito that will fill you up--I usually eat half and save the other half for later.  And now for the ingredients. They're separated into the beef, bean, and green chile filling, cheese sauce, and the tortilla. 

The Bomb is the bomb! Eating one of these will make you explode.

Don Miguel brand

The Bomb - beef, cheese sauce & bean with green chiles burrito

Ingredients:

Beef and Bean with Green Chiles fill:
-Beef,
-Water,
-Beans,
-Green Chiles,
-Modified Food Starch.

Contains 2% or less of:
-Vinegar,
-Flavorings,
-Tomatoes (Tomatoes, Tomato Puree, Citric Acid),
-Oats,
-Salt,
-Dehydrated Onion,
-Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten,
-Soy Protein,
-Wheat Gluten,
-Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil,
-Jalapenos (Jalapeno Peppers, Salt, Acetic Acid, Water, Calcium Chloride),
-Guar Gum,
-Cilantro Flavor (Dextrose, Modified Corn Starch, Extractives of Cilantro),
-Soy Lecithin,
-Sugar,
-Grill Flavor (Maltodextrin, Salt, Defatted Wheat Germ, Natural Flavor, Corn Syrup Solids, Modified Food Starch, Tricalcium Phosphate).


Cheese Sauce:
-Water,
-Pasteurized Blended Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Culture, Salt, Sodium Citrate, Enzymes, Apocarotenal (color)),
-Dehydrated Cheese Powder
--(Corn Syrup,
--American Cheese (Milk, Culture, Salt, Enzymes),
--Food Starch Modified,
--Whey,
--Partially Hydrogenated Coconut and/or Soybean Oil,
--Salt,
--Butter (Milk Fat),
--Nonfat Milk,
--Buttermilk,
--Di-Sodium Phosphate,
--Sodium Caseinate,
--Mono and Di-Glycerides,
--Citric Acid,
--Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate,
--Sodium Citrate,
--Di-Potassium Phosphate,
--Natural Flavor,
--Natural and Artificial Colors (Annatto, Paprika, FD&C Yellow #5, FD&C Yellow #6, Beta Carotene),
--and Carrageenan),
-Modified Food Starch. 

Contains 2% or less of:
-Vinegar,
-Dehydrated Onion.

Tortilla:
-Bleached Wheat Flour Enriched (Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid),
-Water,
-Soybean Oil,
-Vital Wheat Gluten,
-Salt,
-Dough Conditioner (Inverted Sugar, Propylene Glycol, Water, Cellulose Gum),
-Baking Powder (Corn Starch, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate),
-Emulsifier (Guar Gum, Mono-Diglycerides, Rice Flour),
-Guar Gum,
-Sodium Metabisulfite.



As you can see, it's stuffed full of strange-sounding ingredients: Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Guar Gum, Propylene Glycol, Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten, and other wonderful things.  I could go to the trouble of explaining the various ingredients, but there's so many here that it would take a lot of space.  Instead, as before, I recommend a Google and/or Wikipedia search for any of the listed ingredients--it's easy enough with the internet to discover why any of the less obvious ingredients are in there.  And if it bothers you, don't eat them.  But I like these things.