Dairy Industry Petitions FDA to Allow Hiding Aspartame in Their Products

Oh boy, MOST products contain ingredients that never have to be labeled. That's why I try to avoid processed foods as much as possible. It makes me nervous to not know what I'm eating. It's really just ridiculous when unprocessed whole food items get away with it.

I think ANY item that's in food should be labeled. Not because of the amount in the food, but because that's just good practice.

i hate those bastards.
these are the same guys with a hugely powerful lobby to strike terror into the hearts of americans who even think about bypassing their nasty, dead, highly processed products and buy raw.
thanks for the heads up.
khairete
S.

Thank you for posting this! My dad has aspartame poisoning that results in seizures if he ingests ANY amount. I am VERY unhappy about this!

I think it is absolutely shameful what our regulator's consider ''food''.

It does not surprise me iin the slightest.

Ever look into how we get our mass production of Corn to make all the crappy food that is on the shelf in every food store........MONSANTO is taking over how we eat. shoot it is taking over how we garden. None of it being safe to consume either.

I have no idea what they would need to put aspartame in milk. Surely it will have something to do with cutting cost and raising profit.

The Gov't and the FDA regulators have proven by the lack of willingness to look into the dangers of Bio-engineered food. That they do not have our best interests in mind.

Things you can do to kick them where it counts.......Make sure you buy from locally milked cows. You can still find wholesome farmers out there not shooting their stock up with hormones and other nasty things.

Sure you will pay more for it. If you move to an all natural locally grown way of eating all together, you cut out the junk food that racks up your grocery bill in the first place. so you actually end up saving money buying that way. PLUS you are supporting small business agriculture...instead of the BIG FARM complex that is pushed now days.

If we keep forking our money into cows treated this way........We are only perpetuating this sort practice.

I am a firm believer we can live with out drugged up milk, toxic fruits and veggies and making farm sustainable once more and feeding the masses the way it was designed to do. We just need to scale back and trust the farmers who had been farming it right before the farming took over.

Off my Box. In my work as an Activist I have fought to have food labeled for GMO. This falls under that same ideal. I want to know what is in what ever I am consuming!

Thank You for posting this. If more people know and understand what they are trying to do to our food maybe we can stop it before it gets REALLY OUT OF HAND!

Added.......I dont think some of the responding understand how much the food suppliers get away with.

There is soo much of our food, not allowed in other Countries because of how it is made, and the GMO's in them.

As of right now, we do not have any laws banning said food, the production and the monopoly game played around it all.

For instance......a farmer growing a crop big enough to be considers an industrial farm, is pretty much forced to buy Monsanto seed(one of the largest seed producer on the market now days because of the patent they have on seed.....killing pretty much every competition out there) due to cost and their monopoly on the market. Once the farmer has purchased the seed, they are only allowed to use it for one growing season. If they are caught replanting their next crop with the same seed, Monsanto WILL come in with legal action. They have so many lawyers no farm could stand up to them.

If you look at who works for or has worked for Monsanto, it is almost like reading a list of whose who in Washington. Names like Hillary Clinton made the list of former employee's or representative.

so to be as naive as saying it would never happen, is pretty much living with your blinder's on. They can. They will and will not think twice about it when ever thing is all said and done.

There is good reason why they have attempted to ''hide'' the issues like GMO food for soo long. There is strong connections linking obesity, cancer and many other chronic illness to the consumption of GMO foods.

They dont want us to have a clue. That clue will unveil a whole lot of SERIOUS issues for the Corporate Agriculture complex.

Please do not for a moment think they would not act on this. They would, they will and we have to accept it and then fight to change it.

It takes alot of research and planning to remove the toxic food sources from ones shopping list. But doing so will kick Companies like Monsanto and Big dairy in the crotch. I will go get my steel toe boots.......You get your's too!

So, this petition is literally meant to change the definition of milk (and the other dairy products you mentioned) so that it may contain either a nutritive or non-nutritive sweetner and still be considered "milk."

I don't think it's appropriate then to say that it won't ever happen because aspartame is not derived from milk. Or that the levels will be very low. If they change the definition, it doesn't matter.

While I don't personally have a problem with aspartame, I worry for those that have allergies, are sensitive to it, or make the choice not to consume this.

Thanks for passing along. I will be submitting my comments to the FDA.

Being that agribusiness practically owns the FDA, this doesn't surprise me. It's touching that others think it won't happen, but honestly? It could.

I guess my big question is WHY? What could be the possible payoff in putting fake sweetener in milk? Well, whatever. We drink very little milk in my house - I grew up in a county that is one of the biggest dairy producers in the US, and I can tell you that dairies are disgusting. I don't care how much they pasteurize milk, it's still disgusting. Those cows live their whole lives standing on giant piles of manure. When the wind shifts, it smells so horrible your eyes water and you gag. Their feet never touch anything but sh&^. When they lay down, where are their udders? In a steaming pile of sh*^! And these are the animals that produce milk? Um, no thanks. I'll drink water. :-P

ETA: I went onto the FDA's website and created a comment to them about this proposal. Who knows if it will make a difference, but if we all do it, maybe they'll take note. I found it especially offensive that part of the "reason" that the dairy industry wants to be able to not include aspartame on the labels of flavored milk (yogurt, etc) is that "consumers don't perceive these products as having sugar in them." Umm, WHAT? Haven't all of us been telling our kids since they were tiny that chocolate milk is no better than drinking a Coke? Ugh. Anyway, I wrote a scathing comment. Hopefully everyone else will, too.

That's disgusting. I avoid aspartame and wouldn't knowingly consume it. It wasn't even tested on humans before it was put on the market and parts of it convert into heavy metals at temps 86 degrees (below our usual body temperature.) I know a lot of people consume it, however I just find it a terrible thing to put in my body. I'm lactose intolerant and we only buy organic milk due to all the hormones in conventional milk, but I'll still be signing that petition!

It won't happen, because aspartame is not derived from milk and therefore can't be labeled as "milk."

If you want something that actually IS happening, go ahead and look up how orange juice is made, and why Tropicana always tastes like Tropicana no matter what time of year you buy it or where in the world you buy it from. (Or any other name brand.) That one is a bit more disturbing than something that isn't going to happen.

Again, won't happen. Aspartame is in no way derived from milk and they can petition all they want, but it won't happen.

You can rest assured that the FDA will not allow the milk industry to put secret ingredients in their milk.

Milk is milk.. comes from cows. the only additives are vitamins A and D. there are no extra things added.

certain foods.. (like milk) have a definition.. in the FDA law there is a definition of what milk is.. milk comes from cows.. no additives to preservatives..

many companies and industries make petitions to the FDA -- the do not just get rubber stamped...

I am outraged at this! I just read an article yesterday about aspartame and how it can cause an allergic reaction in people--even in small doses. Many people were mis-diagnosed with ms and what was really the culprit---aspartame.

If this is approved, I will cut all dairy out of my family's life and I will make a big deal about this. I hope this doesn't happen!

It is very hard to believe that they could be successful with this... Aspartame breaks down to phenylalanine (among other metabolites) and all foods that contain it must be labeled appropriately for phenylketonurics.
That would just be so seriously wrong on so many levels...

This is very scary to me. I have severe allergy to aspartame and in fact to all artificial sweeteners. Many, many, many people do.

This would actually be a huge hit to the industry if they do it because they'll lose customers who are unable to consume the products any longer for fear of becoming ill from hidden ingredients. If they think people won't be able to taste the difference they're fooling themselves. Aspartame tastes disgusting.

Yes, I got an alert the other day from Dr. Mercola. Sick, huh? What do you expect from America, though? This freaking country is bought and sold daily by big biz lobbyists. I could go on and on, but won't. One truly needs to stay up on what's going on these days. Our health depends on it.

Nothing personal but I can be killed going to work tomorrow. Aspartame is the least of my worries.

Maybe I am too laid back but so what if there are trace amounts of aspartame in dairy products? If it were not trace amounts it wouldn't be approved, ya know?
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Thing is if the levels are significant it won't be approved, if they are asking then the levels are probably already there and they are buffering for a lawsuit.

I get that to some this is serious but the way the government works, it can't be that serious.

Yes I knew about this. You would be amazed at what our government allows into our food and it doesnt need to be labeled. I am sure people will say it's just a little bit but ALL these little bits of different chemicals we are exposed to everyday will (does) do damage to the human race.

I am sensitive to it. I will have to stop eating those products.

Outraged. Had no clue. Thanks for posting.

The people who probably think this won't pass probably do not realize that the Deputy Commisioner of FDA, Michael Taylor, was a former vice president of Monsanto.

It appears that the Obama administration created a new position and put him in it.
http://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/centersoffices/officeoffoods/...

So if you think this has a snowball's chance in hell of passing, think again.

I will never consume dairy products if this passes.

SO-OOO TOTALLY passing this on!!! Can't thank you enough for passing on the information!

I'm glad to see that many of y'all are as outraged by this proposal as I am. But while griping about it on this forum can be cathartic, that alone will not help fix this. If enough of us protest to the right people, then maybe, just maybe, we can get this stopped. Discussion is good. Action is even better.

Who are the right people? Your federal representatives are a good place to start. Petitions can be ignored, but emails and phone calls are summarized, tallied by staffers, and briefed to your reps daily. Contact your House representatives and senators now. Today. Tell them you hate this proposal, and tell them why. Write to our president (I've got to wonder what the health conscious Michelle Obama thinks about this!).

Then go to this website:

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/02/20/2013-...

This website includes detailed information about the proposal, a link for electronic public comments, and an address for written submissions of comments. Comment in detail, and ask everybody you know who cares about this to do the same.

Then, if you are so inclined, let your grocery store's regional manager know in writing that you will not purchase dairy products from them if this passes and you no longer are able to know what's in your milk from reading the label. If enough of us do this, the grocery retailers will come out publicly against the proposal. Our government is no longer as good as it should be at listening to individuals, but they still care deeply about not hurting big business. You may actually have a stronger voice in this as a consumer than you will as a citizen.

Thank you for posting this! Can you send me the link. Sorry I am not sure where SWH is.
I think this is crazy. For someone to say "Aspartame is the least of my worries or I could get killed tomorrow" makes no sense. Aspartame affects a lot of people in different... I have a friend who gets migraines from it. Also my daughter has PKU meaning her body can not process phenylalanine which is in Aspartame.

I'm really glad to read that people are outraged over their food consumption additives. But, I find it as funny as when people worry that they are eating horse meat instead of cow.

Someone below mentioned all sorts of ingredients are in 'food' that we don't know about. Do you guys realize that ALL milk has pus and blood in it? Ok, it's pasteurized but that just means boiled pus and blood. The factory farming rapes (shoving their hand up inside and artificially inseminating) cows so they keep making babies so they keep lactating. The mommas are hooked up to machines and forced to pump at least 4x as much milk as they would naturally make (which by the way is for THEIR babies instead of us) and in turn they get mastitis all the time. Their teats become infected yet they are still hooked up to machines-as for farms to not lose money.

All the boys born to this situation are sent off for slaughter as a little baby, ripped away from their mothers. The mother cows cry and mourn their child stolen from them just as you would.

Should we be consuming dairy products? HECK NO.

You want calcium? Your body will better metabolize sesame seeds, swiss chard, kale, collard greens, beet greens, figs, etc.
The countries that have the highest amount of dairy consumption also have the highest rate of osteoporosis. Don't believe me? Look it up.