Why it’s important to read labels
By Muhammad Abdullah
July/August 2023
Did you know “homemade” sandwiches, “organic” granolas, and “plant-based” milk has up to 40 ingredients? An April 2023 report in the U.K. Daily Mail states “ultra-processed” foods make up more than 70% of the U.S. food supply. A national survey suggests that 1 in 8 U.S. adults are addicted to these foods. America’s obsession with ultra-processed foods, some of which have up to 100 ingredients, have been linked to heart disease, dementia, and cancer. They could be fueling a growing wave of chronic diseases.
Ultra-Processed Foods are Cheap and Delicious
Ultra-processed foods are higher in salt, sugar, and fat, and contain ingredients you would not add when cooking at home (such as coloring, sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, hydrolyzed proteins, hydrogenated oils, and monosodium glutamate etc.). Common examples of ultra-processed food include sugary beverages; chips and cookies, fast food, reconstituted meat products such as hot dogs and fish sticks, pizza and TV dinners, energy and protein bars and shakes, ice cream, sweetened yogurt, and plant-based milks.
The American Medical Association states that ultra-processed foods are industrial creations made with little — if any — whole foods that often contain large amounts of added sugars and salt and infused with artificial colors and additives. They are cheap, convenient, and tasty.
The use of additives has become more common these days due to the increase in demand for processed products at an affordable price. In meat processing, certain animal tissues such as meat trimmings, bone scraps, or certain internal organs such as intestines, which are usually not sold in fresh meat marketing, are integrated into the food chain as valuable protein-rich ingredients. Animal gelatin that acts as a cohesive agent to meat mixes is used to make the cooked products solid, elastic, and easy to slice. Added water containing phosphates and dextrose is used to make the meat more succulent.
According to CBS News, there are more than 10,000 chemicals and additives allowed in food in the U.S., often in small amounts. But many haven’t been evaluated by the FDA in decades. What we consume becomes a part of the body, and can affect us physically as well as spiritually.
The Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) advised: “The son of Adam does not fill any vessel worse than his stomach. It is enough for the son of Adam to eat a few mouthfuls to straighten his back, but if he must (fill his stomach), then one third for his food, one third for his drink, and one third for his breath.” (reported Al-Miqdām ibn Ma‘di Karib; Ibn Maajah).
The two common factors leading people to consume higher amounts of ultra-processed foods are cost, and a lack of making healthy choices. A Huffington Post survey shows that people living in full-service grocery store areas where healthy nutritious foods were available still chose unhealthy foods. The convenience of ordering online is yet another factor.
To make it easier to understand, researchers have separated foods into four categories, based on the extent of processing, using the NOVA classification system. NOVA was designed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
NOVA Group 1 consists of such foods as fresh vegetables, fruits, pasteurized milk, chicken, fish, beans, and eggs because these go through no or minimal processing before you buy them. In contrast, NOVA Group 4 (ultra-processed), contains little, if any, of the foods or ingredients from group 1, and often include unhealthy levels of added sugars, sodium, and fat. These ingredients make the food taste better, but too much of them leads to serious health issues like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
How to Read Labels
The first thing about avoiding ultra-processed foods is to have some knowledge about reading the ingredient list. The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), requires all prepackaged products with more than one ingredient to list ingredients in descending order by weight. In this way the first ingredient listed is always present in the largest amount and can be useful when comparing products.
Experts advise avoiding products with more than five ingredients and cooking from scratch at home as often as possible. When people eat sweet foods, high in caloric value, pleasure hormones like dopamine are released in their brains and they feel better.
The nutrition label shows key nutrients that may impact your health. For example, Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a painful gastrointestinal-tract disease linked with consumption of diets with higher amounts of sugar and fat. Celiac, an autoimmune disease, damages the small intestine whenever gluten is consumed. Consumers should use these labels to meet their personal dietary needs.
The size of the ingredient list is a key as to whether the food is ultra-processed or not. For instance, corn is minimally processed. Canned corn is processed, and a corn chip is ultra-processed. Ditto for an apple, apple juice, and apple pie. Milk, reduced fat milk, and unsweetened almond milk.
Eating Healthy and Tayyab Foods
Verse 7:157 of the Qur’an, states that for us to consume a thing it must not only be halal, but also be tayyab (pure). In this verse, tayyab is contrasted against the Arabic word “Al-Khaba’ith”, which is translated as “evil.” This could mean anything not tayyab is impure, disgusting and harmful. Islam emphasizes food safety and frequently associates halal with tayyab.
“O ye who believe! Eat of the clean and pure that We have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him ye worship” (Quran 2: 172).
The “USDA Inspected & Passed” stamp on commercially produced meat and poultry products serves to put the consumers at ease that these products are safe, wholesome, properly labeled and are produced in a sanitary environment. The first thing the USDA inspectors do in a plant is perform a sanitation inspection. In case of halal meat, each animal carcass receives the halal logo after the animal has received the “USDA Inspected & Passed” stamp.
USDA also provides grading services. There are eight grades for beef, based on the age of the animal and its marbling — prime, choice, select, standard, commercial, utility, cutter, and canner. Prime being the highest quality and canner the lowest. Chicken may similarly be marked as Grade A, B, or C. Meat inspection and meat grading are two different things. Meat inspection is performed to determine the meat’s fitness for human consumption and this service is paid for by the government. Whereas, the grading is about the quality and yield of meat, and the plants pay the USDA for this service. For this reason, not all meats are graded.
The USDA does not get involved in “Halal” meat certification. Instead, the plant contracts services to a halal certification organization. Thus, it becomes the certification organization’s responsibility whose “Halal” stamp is on the product.
The global meat industry is very complex. All animal raw edible parts are sourced from slaughter and processing plants around the world and are used to produce different types of processed products. It provides many opportunities to engage in substitution, mislabeling, and other types of food fraud. For example, a researcher at the University of Guelph (Ontario) found mislabeling and cross contamination in 20% of sausage samples.
Caution with Some Labels
Food labels are supposed to allow consumers to make more informed decisions by knowing the quality or standards in the production of meat. However, some labels can be vague and confusing. For example, claims that a brand of chicken has no steroids or hormones can give the impression to a consumer that it is because of this company’s special efforts. The fact is that steroids and hormones are not allowed in any U.S. poultry or hog production.
“Chemical Free” is another term that is disallowed to be used on a label. The reason could be that some chemicals are naturally occurring and there is no way to assure that products are free of any chemical substance. “Humanely raised” or “sustainably farmed” is, yet another such term for which there are no regulatory standards. However, some labels do tell how the animal was raised, what it ate, if any chemicals were added to its feed, etc. and can be helpful towards healthy and tayyab eating.
“Naturally Raised” labels indicate that no growth hormones, no antibiotics, and no animal by-products were fed. “Grass Fed” label indicates that only grass and forage was fed for the lifetime of the animal. The only exception is the milk consumed prior to the animal’s weaning. “USDA Organic” label indicates that the animals were fed an organic grain or forage diet, no animal by-products, no use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, products were kept separate from non-organic products, and documentation was maintained for traceability.
Conventional meat, with the above labels, have been in the supermarket for decades but not the halal meat. It is unclear why. Consumers expect the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to do something in this matter. OIC recently published its 10-year plan that aims for uniformity in standardization and accreditation activities, after its 5-year strategic plan (2016-2020) could not succeed. Hopefully, OIC should be able to resolve this issue while it continues with its 10-year plan.
The above-mentioned labels may have some deficiencies and need better enforcement (How Organic is “Organic” Food – Islamic Horizons – Nov/Dec 2022). However, they are defined by USDA and other government agencies, and based on what these labels claim, this is the closest one can get to healthy (nutrient-dense) and tayyab foods.
Dr. Mohammad Abdullah retired after serving 29 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the agency that regulates the meat industry. He is also the author of “A Closer Look at Halal Meat from Farm to Fork” (2016)
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