Soy products in tea?

[ToLiveToLaugh]

That is great information, ToLiveToLaugh!

I know that the carcinogen, nickle, is added to food grade fats and glycerin during processing as a catalyst and when removed still leaves a good percentage of itself behind. The amounts retrieved are not equal to the amounts that went in, simple as that. You are right- I've never seen nickle listed as an ingredient in lipstick, cooking oils, etc.
What are you taking food law for?

I'm a food politics junky, for one. Second, I've taken every law class my university offers: business law, environmental law, and now food law. I think knowing the law and your rights and contract obligations and language is one of the most powerful things possible in this country. Third, it covers my synthesis class requirement: that's a high level class, not in your field, that is writing and exam heavy and requires the compiling and processing of info from multiple fields. It's actually a pretty easy class though, just lots to memorize.

And you're right, catalysts like nickel and mercury and bleach and phosphorus can be left in "de minimus" amounts in the food. De minimus means it is traceable (you can detect it) but isn't enough to provide concern or damage someone of a normal level of health. Although technically there is a thing called a "delaney clause" that says that if it is a carcinogen, it can't be present AT ALL, not just in de minimus amounts. The FDA has been fighting that, at the behest of large producers, for a decade now. So far the courts have rejected it. So instead, the FDA just isn't defining carcinogens as stringently to get around it. *angry face*. It really frustrates me. The whole POINT of the FDA is food security and safety. Seriously, you want an eye opener, go and read the enabling legislation for the FDA. It's called the food, drugs, and cosmetic act.

More stuff to get angry about? The FDA doesn't even regulate what goes into food anymore. Most of the systems operate on whats called a "notification system" which is that the company conducts tests to show that something is "safe" (they often try and pass it off as GRAS or "generally regarded as safe" which means it's been in long time use and caused no harm) and the FDA just looks over their findings and, if they don't reply, have given the company the go ahead to use it. I know that with all the new stuff going into foods its hard to test EVERY ONE of them, but it just seems so risky. Ugh.

Okay, rant over. If you actually find this stuff interesting, I can post my lectures power points on drop box and you can download them.