Friday, October 3, 2014

October-Ban Corporate Candy

 With Halloween at the end of this month, people have already started planning for the big night. Halloween is a holiday filled with spooky decorations, costumes, and don't forget the candy! Earlier in the 20th century Halloween wasn't such a big thing, and cookies and apples were common treats (if anything was handed out at all). This quaint idea to celebrate a holiday has morphed into a corporate holiday, I mean what better way to sell so much chemical-laden candy! Three big companies own practically all the candy produced, these three corporations are Mars, Nestle, and Monelez International. Take a look at some of the candy brands that each of them own in the US and Canada.


Mars
  • Lifesavers
  • Starburst
  • Skittles 
  • Mars
  • M&M's
  • Snickers
  • Milky way
  • Dove
  • Maltesers 
  • Twix
  • 3 Musketeers


Nestle
  • Baby Ruth
  • Butterfingers
  • Kit Kat
  • Crunch
  • Raisenets
  • Rolo
  • Smarties
  • Wonka Confectionery Brand 


Mondelez International
  • Sour Patch Kids
  • Chips Ahoy
 There's much more candy that's sold in other countries, and these three companies own a lot more than just candy. A fantastic picture I commonly reference is a corporate map charting out what companies all the corporations own. Everything leads back to just 10 corporations and they have at this point, bought out even the once-known-as-organic companies. So, they practically own the world!
  If their monopoly on sweets isn't bad enough, these treats contain very undesirable chemical ingredients. For example, The ingredients of the Laffy Taffy are salt, artificial flavor, soy lecithin, malic acid, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, diglycerides and monoglycerides. These are all substances that account for less than 2% of the Laffy Taffy candy. Other substances included, which vary, depending on the flavor of the candy, are Red 40, sugar, Yellow 5 and Blue 1. Not only do these ingredients not sound appetizing, but they can have very bad health effects on your body.
 Between the the chemical ingredients and the greedy corporations, these candies can't fail to give you a bad taste in your mouth!
Here are your assignments for this month, assess your level and then follow the recommendations.

Level One- You knew sugar was bad, but still eat (and feed your family on occasion) some corporate candy. Here are some ideas for you:

  1. Watch this video on how gummie candy is made (Keep in mind that mineral oil is basically petroleum.)
  2. If you must buy candy try to buy only USDA certified organic.
  3. This Halloween hand out organic candy instead of the corporate candies everyone else hands out.
Level Two- Candy isn't a common thing in your house, but you'll occasionally buy some bad stuff.
Here are some ideas for you:

  1. Watch this video on how jawbreakers are made. What this candy is actually made of will make you think twice before ever eating another jawbreaker! 
  2. Try only having corporate candy 3 or less times this month.
  3. On Halloween this year your assignment is to hand out apples instead of candy. (Organic is preferred)
Level Three- You almost never have candy, and when you do it's always either homemade or organic. Here are some ideas for you:

  1. Recommend me a good video on how this corporate candy is so bad, I can't seem to find any!
  2. The next time you make candy (or anything else) with food dye, use organic plant based dyes instead. 
  3. Your assignment is to hand out homemade cookies (or cupcakes) on Halloween!

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