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Porridge

Ianc2 profile image
38 Replies

Significant levels of the weedkilling chemical glyphosate have been found in an array of popular breakfast cereals, oats and snack bars marketed to US children, a new study has found.

Tests revealed glyphosate, the active ingredient in the popular weedkiller brand Roundup, present in all but two of the 45 oat-derived products that were sampled by the Environmental Working Group, a public health organization.

Nearly three in four of the products exceeded what the EWG classes safe for children to consume. Products with some of the highest levels of glyphosate include granola, oats and snack bars made by leading industry names Quaker, Kellogg’s and General Mills, which makes Cheerios.

One sample of Quaker Old Fashioned Oats measured at more than 1,000 parts per billion of glyphosate. The Environmental Protection Agency has a range of safe levels for glyphosate on crops such as corn, soybeans, grains and some fruits, spanning 0.1 to 310 parts per million.

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Ianc2 profile image
Ianc2
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38 Replies
UScore profile image
UScore

Exciting to think that we (the UK) are desperate to lower all of our food quality standards to enjoy that free trade from America.

CDreamer profile image
CDreamer in reply to UScore

Please NO....NO....NO. I just don’t get the logic of importing food all those miles - period. No trade deal is worth the health of the nation. Chlorine washed chickens - 😑

Stick to local, organically grown produce and even that will have some chemical absorption as it is everywhere. We used to use glyphosphate liberally (collective we, not personally) it will be eons of banning the use before we are free of the stuff.

Let’s hope the bees last that long because if they go, we go!

UScore profile image
UScore in reply to CDreamer

too late. We've voted for independence and that means doing whatever USA tells us.

RexH profile image
RexH in reply to UScore

And in Australia

jeanjeannie50 profile image
jeanjeannie50

Oh no! I eat porridge most mornings. We're being killed by the way our food is grown and poisoned with chemical sprays. It's all very worrying. Back to the organic stuff then.

RexH profile image
RexH in reply to jeanjeannie50

Yes we only buy organic porridge, love our porridge 😊

Maggimunro profile image
Maggimunro in reply to RexH

Same here Rex. After a recent bowel cancer scare, porridge is my absolute must for breakfast.

momist profile image
momist in reply to jeanjeannie50

We've been using Jordans Organic Chunky Traditional oats for many years, and don't like any of the others now.

CHRISAF18 profile image
CHRISAF18 in reply to jeanjeannie50

Sounds awful but research where products are grown and what they are using for organic growth this is all a mind field too.

Beancounter profile image
BeancounterVolunteer

I am fully concerned about weedkillers too.

However, I do need to point out that 1,000 parts per billion is actually 1 part per million, so this could easily fall within the EPA guidelines.

I have to assume this came from a tabloid more interested in their numbers than the meaning.

Be well

Ian

CDreamer profile image
CDreamer in reply to Beancounter

Whilst I appreciate your quest for accuracy - any part is one part too much!

momist profile image
momist in reply to Beancounter

All tabloids are only interested is selling rubbish to the masses. I refuse to buy ANY newspapers, as none of them can be trusted to be accurate in their reporting. Even the better ones have their own political agendas to enhance.

I try to get my news from as many sources as possible, and then take it all with the proverbial salt.

seasider18 profile image
seasider18 in reply to momist

Just as well that the press this week tell us to double our salt intake :-)

CDreamer profile image
CDreamer

NO🤬 it’s not alright! Our food is our Medicine and our nourishment and any poison - is still a poison.

doodle68 profile image
doodle68

I have porridge every day made with Flahavan's organic jumbo oats :-) they are delicious, healthy and free of pesticides.

waitrose.com/ecom/products/...

Quaker oats taste like wallpaper paste...:-)

momist profile image
momist in reply to doodle68

So, you can trust the Irish? ;-)

Seriously, do they have the same standards in Eire as the British Soil Association has?

doodle68 profile image
doodle68 in reply to momist

HI Momist :-) I think I can trust these people

telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrin...

I have tried other oats and have found none to match their jumbo oats for flavour. They contain husk bits too so are full of fibre, so good for the body...

F-M-C-MM profile image
F-M-C-MM in reply to momist

Hi Momist, Flahavans are an irish family business producing porridge oatlets and organic porridge oatlets for over 200 years and have an environmental sustainability policy.

Aprilbday profile image
Aprilbday

😨😱

doodle68 profile image
doodle68

....'Needs must' John :-)

Buffafly profile image
Buffafly

Just putting my hands over my ears, blinkers on, and hiding behind the sofa - can't take any more doom and gloom.....on second thoughts will go and fight the caterpillars and wasps for my organic plums 😁

pottypete1 profile image
pottypete1

Just when Goldilocks thought it was safe to eat the Bears’ breakfast. 😜

Pete

secondtry profile image
secondtry

Thanks for drawing attention to this lanc2. For those looking for clean food, it takes time to find reliable sources but there will be a farm in your region that has been organic for many years who you can trust or some will send it by courier too far away. Yes, it costs twice as much as you pay in Tesco (I wouldn't trust the organic in any supermarket except perhaps Duchy Organic for some products) but it must be a priority over your other expenditure if it is something going inside you, to me it makes sense to avoid poisons however small the amount. Some processed food the body can't deal with so it just accumulates. We've all been convinced by the marketing that we are being fed better and cheaper but the old adage still applies you get what you pay for.

pottypete1 profile image
pottypete1 in reply to secondtry

We get our porridge from a private health food shop in Romsey. It is loose and we buy by the Kg. Not sure of the origin so must have words with the owner.

secondtry profile image
secondtry in reply to pottypete1

Hi Pete, if you fancy a trip to the coast near Dorchester these guys I would trust implicitly tamariskfarm.co.uk/wp/shop/... but unfortunately no oats.

pottypete1 profile image
pottypete1 in reply to secondtry

That sounds good we are going to South Devon for a few days in September.

Thanks for the info.

Pete

dartmoorlass profile image
dartmoorlass in reply to pottypete1

Hi pottypete, if your South Devon trip takes you to Totnes you'll be spoiled for choice when buying organically produced ANYTHING. Food shops par excellence, cotton goods, nappies, herbs and herbal remedies, healthy supplements plus delicious whole food restaurants and takeaways. Wonderful spelt bread and pasta and so much more. Perhaps I should add I don't have shares in any of the businesses .......more's the pity! Alas my regular shopping trips there have had to be postponed since I developed a debilitating auto immune condition (the precursor of my AF and heart attack) but hope in time I may be able to resume those happy days. Luckily, two of my sons who live fairly near, share my enthusiasm for good locally produced organic food and happily do my bulk shopping taking advantage of all that Totnes offers us. Hope you have a good week.

Luisa1987 profile image
Luisa1987 in reply to dartmoorlass

sorry to inquire about you but you stated you have an autoimmune condition that was a precursor to your AF and i was wondering what it is because i have Systemic Lupus and when i have a flare up my heart goes into AF! I have told my rheumatologist this but he said its unlikely to be connected!!! And i know it is!

dartmoorlass profile image
dartmoorlass in reply to Luisa1987

HI Luisa - apologies for late reply, few difficulties here, OH emergency hospital admission, home again now after treatment but back in again tomorrow for more treatment and surgery. My auto immune condition is Giant Cell Arteritis/ PMR and the research article cited GCA alone, no other auto immune condition was mentioned. Perhaps, like me, you have to take the evil but vital steroids; my very first 500mg methylprednisolone infusion nearly killed me, I had a serious adverse reaction, fortunately I was already in hospital otherwise I believe a heart attack would have been fatal. I can quite understand your feelings of a connection between a flare up and AF but judging from the experiences of many who post on the GCA forum, several of our medics have fixed, and in some cases, totally incorrect mindsets. Let's hope time will improve things. Best wishes.

Why wouldn't you trust supermarket organic? Surely it's all regulated by the soil association?

secondtry profile image
secondtry in reply to

It's all about local and traceability - sure some organic could be fine but if you don't know and trust where its from you are on thin ice due to food fraud and exhausted organic soils in some countries. I am in the South of England and two sources I would trust implicitly are tablehurstandplawhatch.co.uk & theorganicfarmshop.co.uk

castanes profile image
castanes

Rather disturbing g to say the least !

seasider18 profile image
seasider18

The thing that concerns me most is antibiotics used on animals and even in fish farming. There is no escape it seems.

countrysider profile image
countrysider

Ok, so what are the two that are not affected? Whatever they are, I might try them until something turns up in them!

gmbodio profile image
gmbodio

Yet another wedge being driven into human health by a combination of a huge money making machine Monsanto and our idiotic government's miscalculations of what us humans actually want. I might be wrong but the current EU limit on residual glyphosate is 20ppm, well below what's happening in cancer-diabetes-obesity riven USA. I'd ask Lame Fox to take note but he's completely in love with the USA and big business.

The answer is to look carefully at where cereals come from.

philologus profile image
philologus

To mis-quote...

"The road to health is paved with good intestines."

Buffafly profile image
Buffafly in reply to philologus

Could be a bit slippy though?

Patches2 profile image
Patches2

Soon we will not be able to eat anything!