Subway, Yoga Mats, Chemicals, and Fascism

So, an article popped up on Yahoo (I have a yahoo mail account) about Subway and their intent to remove azodicarbonamide from their breads ASAP after pressure from a "food blogger." It was ridiculous and fascist, the bullying Subway was subjected to, in my opinion.

I've been wanting to say this for a while: if I were Subway, I'd say exactly this.

We use a dough conditioner called azodicarbonamide in our breads, as most commercial bakeries do. It is an FDA-approved ingredient that can also be used for things, as has been mentioned, such as making your flip-flops and yoga mats more cushy. Maybe the "food blogger" should have titled the story "Yoga mats use edible additive to increase cushiness."

Think about it, though, you are listening to a person that has the title "food blogger." If I were you, I'd be embarrassed. Please feel free to hide your embarrassment while eating one of our delicious subs at your local Subway store.

I'm not the only one saying this, and here is the second ever link to a huffpo piece I've ever used. This writer calls the creds of the food blogger into question, and finishes strong:

Besides, as I said earlier, you don't actually ingest any azodicarbonamide when you eat bread made with it. During the mixing process, it breaks down into a compound called biurea, a comopund that is readily excreted from the body. Other byproducts include semicarbazide and ethyl carbamate.

Ethyl carbamate used to be used as a medicine until it was discovered that it caused cancer in rats. Although it's not used as an ingredient in foods, it is a natural by-product of yeast fermentation. Accordingly, you'll find trace amounts of ethyl carbamate in almost all wine, beer, whiskey, soy sauce, and breads (whether or not they are made with azodicarbonamide). Ethyl carbamate cannot be completely eliminated from these foods but efforts are being made to limit consumer exposure.

Although there is some concern about the total amount of ethyl carbamate that people might be exposed to from all the different dietary sources, the primary source for most people is alcoholic beverages. Consider it one more reason to enjoy alcohol in moderation or not at all.

But, let's get back to the protest against Subway. It's true that using azocarbonamide as a dough strengthener increases the amount of ethyl carbamate you're getting. But removing it wouldn't completely eliminate your exposure. And here's the real point I want to make:

Removing Azodicarbonamide Doesn't Make Fast Food Healthy

Americans have been eating fast food sandwiches made with azodicarbonamide for years. If you don't eat that stuff very often, I doubt you have anything to worry about. And if you do eat a lot of fast food sandwiches, I'd venture to say that azodicarbonamide is probably the least of your concerns. Take this chemical out of fast food and what do you have left? Food that's still low nutrients and high in sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats. 

Amen, sister, amen.