Tell Me How You Really Feel: 17
"Goldfish," she said. "I'd never give my children goldfish."
At first I thought she was talking about a pet, but within a moment, I realized she meant the little cheese crackers made by Pepperidge Farm. You know, the "Snack that smiles back!" or something like that. I didn't say anything to her as a rebuttal. Instead, I thought about the bag of goldfish crackers sitting in my cabinet.
And then, I went to work. Looking up just how bad a goldfish cracker is and what's so bad about it. I knew that the snack would probably have too much sodium and very little protein. It's a salty snack, for goodness sakes. But when I saw the ingredients (photo by Kimberly Sullivan at https://kimsulli.wordpress.com/tag/goldfish-crackers/), I admit that I stepped back a little.
The smiles I could live with, but I had to wonder about the rest of the ingredients. Why did the crackers need all those ingredients, and what did they mean? (Now, don't get on my case. Yes, I'm a scientist, and yes, I look at labels, but my kids don't eat Goldfish every day, nor do they eat them in large quantities. I'm of the "mostly good food" in our house camp.)
So I kept searching online, and what I could find was this: Goldfish crackers contain GMOs, most likely in the oils the company uses to make them.
Holy crap! All these years I've given these small crackers to my kids and eaten them myself because we all like them and we've been getting GMOs through them?!?
I'm not the only one who didn't know this. A lawsuit or two has been filed because of this little-known fact, but not really because the cracker is made with GMOs, but because Pepperidge Farm had the nerve to call the snack Natural. (They no longer use the term, by the way.) I agree that the company shouldn't have used the the word, but I also think that our country is lawsuit crazy.
Now, if you really know me, you know that I'm not that torn up that my family has ingested these GMOs. On a routine basis, we eat fresh fruits and vegetables, and I usually steer the kids toward a good snacks. We try to buy organic when possible (as long as the act isn't cost prohibitive) and we buy milk that comes from cows that aren't treated with hormones. Now, as I said, we don't eat Goldfish often. The crackers are not a staple of my children's diets. If they were, I'd likely move on over to the Annie's brand, although the kids don't like those cute little bunnies as much. (Of course not...they're better for them.) But Goldfish? I'm not going to quibble about the multitude of ingredients in Goldfish.
And here's why: those fish, on many occasions, have saved me. On long car rides to eastern Pennsylvania, in crowded movie theaters, at long church services, in the pharmacy when we're waiting for antibiotics to be filled. Little fingers can pick them up, and dogs can clean them up when they've spilled. And, as the kids have aged, I began to realize their usefulness as manipulatives: if you have 12 Goldfish and eat 4 Goldfish, how many do you have left? In short, my children have benefited from many a Goldfish.
An even more healthful option? Make your own.
But I gotta tell you how I really feel, and that's this: I don't have time to make my own Goldfish. GMOs be damned, I'll likely buy a bag from time to time.
At first I thought she was talking about a pet, but within a moment, I realized she meant the little cheese crackers made by Pepperidge Farm. You know, the "Snack that smiles back!" or something like that. I didn't say anything to her as a rebuttal. Instead, I thought about the bag of goldfish crackers sitting in my cabinet.
And then, I went to work. Looking up just how bad a goldfish cracker is and what's so bad about it. I knew that the snack would probably have too much sodium and very little protein. It's a salty snack, for goodness sakes. But when I saw the ingredients (photo by Kimberly Sullivan at https://kimsulli.wordpress.com/tag/goldfish-crackers/), I admit that I stepped back a little.
The smiles I could live with, but I had to wonder about the rest of the ingredients. Why did the crackers need all those ingredients, and what did they mean? (Now, don't get on my case. Yes, I'm a scientist, and yes, I look at labels, but my kids don't eat Goldfish every day, nor do they eat them in large quantities. I'm of the "mostly good food" in our house camp.)
So I kept searching online, and what I could find was this: Goldfish crackers contain GMOs, most likely in the oils the company uses to make them.
Holy crap! All these years I've given these small crackers to my kids and eaten them myself because we all like them and we've been getting GMOs through them?!?
I'm not the only one who didn't know this. A lawsuit or two has been filed because of this little-known fact, but not really because the cracker is made with GMOs, but because Pepperidge Farm had the nerve to call the snack Natural. (They no longer use the term, by the way.) I agree that the company shouldn't have used the the word, but I also think that our country is lawsuit crazy.
Now, if you really know me, you know that I'm not that torn up that my family has ingested these GMOs. On a routine basis, we eat fresh fruits and vegetables, and I usually steer the kids toward a good snacks. We try to buy organic when possible (as long as the act isn't cost prohibitive) and we buy milk that comes from cows that aren't treated with hormones. Now, as I said, we don't eat Goldfish often. The crackers are not a staple of my children's diets. If they were, I'd likely move on over to the Annie's brand, although the kids don't like those cute little bunnies as much. (Of course not...they're better for them.) But Goldfish? I'm not going to quibble about the multitude of ingredients in Goldfish.
And here's why: those fish, on many occasions, have saved me. On long car rides to eastern Pennsylvania, in crowded movie theaters, at long church services, in the pharmacy when we're waiting for antibiotics to be filled. Little fingers can pick them up, and dogs can clean them up when they've spilled. And, as the kids have aged, I began to realize their usefulness as manipulatives: if you have 12 Goldfish and eat 4 Goldfish, how many do you have left? In short, my children have benefited from many a Goldfish.
An even more healthful option? Make your own.
But I gotta tell you how I really feel, and that's this: I don't have time to make my own Goldfish. GMOs be damned, I'll likely buy a bag from time to time.
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