Chip Problem

Up until now I have been able to eat Lay's Kettle Cooked plain potato chips because they weren't cooked in corn oil. They have reformulated their product and now "corn oil may be used." I e-mailed the company and this is the reply I got,

"Martha, the corn oil we use to cook our chips has gone through a heated cleaning process that removes the protein residues. When an individual has an allergy, they are allergic to the protein in the offending food. With the protein removed, most corn allergic people can eat snacks made with this oil.

We also make Lay's Natural Thick Cut potato chips cooked in expeller pressed sunflower oil. You'll find this in the natural food section of most grocery stores.

We consider you a valued consumer and hope you will continue to enjoy snacks from Frito-Lay."

The thing is, the jury is still out on the heated cleaning process actually removing all the allergy causing proteins. I KNOW I've had a reaction to corn-oil cooked chips. The key word is "most corn-allergic people."

I'll look for the natural thick cut chips, but in our rural area some products aren't available. In the meantime I'm eating another brand of kettle chips but I don't like them as well as the Lay's.

Not worth my well-being to take them at face value.

A Link

Science is actually confirming what we guessed all along-high fructose corn syrup is BAD for you.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070823094819.htm

Look What I Found Today!

Because of the corn allergy, I am severely limited in what brands of dairy products I can use. For instance, most, if not all major brands of yogurt have either cornstarch, corn syrup, or both. I can find the organic brands that don't contain corn products pretty reasonably at our local warehouse-type store. They also carry the Western Family Naturals brand of sour cream-most sour creams have cornstarch, but this particular one doesn't. I just have to be sure to read the label and get the natural one. I was across town today and wasn't planning to go to the warehouse store, but here's what I found in Walmart:

No corn starch-just milk products! (I'm lucky enough not to be allergic to milk)

Another shopping problem I had was powdered sugar. They add just a bit of cornstarch just to keep the sugar from caking. Consequently I haven't had frosting since May. This is what I found in the local Food Co-op:

Instead of cornstarch, they use tapioca starch. Frosting here I come-provided I can put together a decent cake with my special flours.

Just Found This

I just Googled, "sucrose corn" and the first thing that came up was this. Kind of chilling what the modern food industry is doing to us.

Why I was researching was that I made a pumpkin cheesecake today (recipe soon) and wanted a nice whipped cream to put on top. I popped into our small town's "mom and pop" store thinking this would be a lead pipe cinch. Boy was I mistaken! The first carton of heavy whipping cream had "modified food starch," which of course is corn starch. The only other kind they had there had sucrose in it. Riggggght-corn derived. What the heck is all that crap doing in an innocent carton of whipping cream? Anyway read this article, it's an eye opener.

(I did get my whipping cream. We had to go to Belgrade for a function at the grandkids' school tonight so we stopped by the supermarket there and I found one that just said "cream, milk" on its label. Not organic, but beggars can't be choosers at 8:00 P.M. on a Thursday night.)

Another Thing I Can't Have!

I thought, after reading the label, that the Starbucks Mocha coffee was safe for me to drink. Not so-it contains ascorbic acid and I just Googled it and it also is derived from corn! This is just not fair-all I want is a little treat now and then. Manufacturers don't care about people, just profits, and since corn is cheaper to use, they use it a lot.

Sigh!