E for Food
Children today may be the first generation to live shorter lives than their parents. And research suggests that our food evironment is largely responsible.
- 2015 (written in relation to the rapid rise in childhood obesity)
Discreet lobbying battles are being fought over the labelling ingredients in food products that are very interesting properties for a wide range of applications, but also raise largely unanswered questions about their health and environmental impacts, making consumer information a key parameter at this stage of the technology's development.
The earliest record in the history of adding additives to food dates back to Ancient Egyptian papyri circa 1500 BC. Food additives are added to food during preparation, processing manufacturing, treatment or packaging to modify chemical, biological, sensory or physical characteristics, and most of them do not have any nutritional value. They play a role as colorants, preservatives, antioxidants, acidity regulators, thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, anti-caking agents and flavor enhancers. In addition, the demand of food additives in the food processing industries has sharply increased due to commercial advantage they provide in terms of longer shelf-life, standardized composition and convenience in processing.
During the 19th century, industrialization, urbanization, reliance on purchased food, and food manufacturing expanded, and so did the concern over adulterated and misbranded food.The use of food additives increased dramatically during the Industrial Revolution, with toxic compounds used liberally in factory food production. Regulations can only regulate what has been scientifically researched and as one law passes by financial interest the next un-researched (synthetic) chemical has found it's way into our food. Even with ingredients carefully labeled the composition of products will still be abstract to the consumer made responsible and lobby will always be faster than science.
This project tries to find the visual interface where science meets consumer information, emphasising the limits to our knowledge posing a problem when responsibility lies with ourselves.
- 2019 and continuing
Video-stills
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candy paper in soda
Potato starch, vegetable oil (coconut, sunflower), emulsifier: sunflower lecithin; flavouring (?), sweetener: sucralose (can change your gut microbiome and can also increase inflammation in the body); plant extract: safflower: colours: E120 (is a colouring made from the raw dried and pulverised bodies of insects with around 20% carminic acid).
jelly balls in acid
Sugar (Refined sugars may increase your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease and are linked to a higher risk of depression, dementia, liver disease, and certain types of cancer) Beef Gelatin (a protein supplement sourced from bovine collagen derived from the skin and hair of cows), Acidity Regulators E297 (possibly the maximum safe-to-consume level of Fumaric Acid) E331 (synthetic Citric Acid - more research needed), Artificial Flavouring (?)
cotton candy in water
Sugar (Refined sugars may increase your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease and are linked to a higher risk of depression, dementia, liver disease, and certain types of cancer), Artificial Flavour (?), Yellow Food colouring E102 (Tartrazine is an azo dye. Side effects are known for pure tartrazine in people who are intolerant to salicylates (aspirin, berries, fruits); in that case tartrazine also induces intolerance symptoms. In combination with benzoates (E210-215), tartrazine is implicated in a large percentage of cases of ADHD syndrome (hyperactivity) in children. Asthmatics may also experience symptoms following consumption of tartrazine, as it is a known histamine-liberating agent), Blue Food Colouring E133 (Synthetic blue colour produced from petroleum and is already banned in Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Germany and Norway. Due to global trade imported products can still contain E133)
