By Richard Clarke
Director of Ingredient Communications
In the chilling 1992 horror movie Candyman, a terrifying hook-handed killer can be summoned from nowhere simply by saying his name – Candyman – five times while looking in the mirror. Go on – I dare you to try it!
It’s just a film, of course, but once seen you’ll never again hear that otherwise innocent-sounding word without a little shudder going down your spine.
I thought of Candyman recently when reading an article by the British journalist Joanna Blythman. She’s a constant thorn in the side of big food manufacturers and retailers everywhere, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Every powerful institution should be held to account – including our industry – and Ms Blythman does a pretty good job of it. Nevertheless, it can be hard to avoid the conclusion that sometimes she is looking for trouble when there is none to be found.
In her latest article*, Ms Blythman tells the story of a trip she made to the trade show Food Ingredients Europe in 2013. I was there – and so, very possibly, were you. I love going to FIE (and its sister show Health Ingredients Europe). Our industry is friendly, exciting, innovative, original and stimulating, and these events reflect those qualities generously. As such, I didn’t recognise Ms Blythman’s description of her visit:
“On a bright, cold day in late November 2013, I found myself in the dark, eerie, indoor expanses of Frankfurt’s Blade Runner-like Festhalle Messe. I was there undercover, to attend an annual trade show called Food Ingredients … Think of it as the food manufacturers’ equivalent of an arms fair. It is not open to the public. Anyone who tries to register has to show that they work in food manufacturing; I used a fake ID. While exhibitors at most food exhibitions are often keen for you to taste their products, few standholders here had anything instantly edible to offer.”
I don’t think I need to pick this apart to expose it as complete nonsense. It’s unrecognisable from the FIE I know – and I’m sure you feel the same way. I laughed out loud on reading about her hilariously melodramatic decision to go ‘undercover’ and use ‘fake ID’ – although her comparison of the show to an arms fair is rather more insulting than it is amusing.
Ms Blythman’s main criticism of FIE, and the exhibitors there, seems to be that the concepts on show often have names that make them sound more like chemicals in a lab than ingredients in a cook’s pantry. She highlights one ingredient – cyclic ester of gluconic acid – that’s being marketed as a shelf-life extender in cheese. Sure, it doesn’t sound tasty, but that’s not the point of FIE, which is not an event for ‘foodies’ but a trade exhibition for manufacturers (which, when I last checked, is not illegal or anything to be ashamed of).
In any case, gluconic acid actually occurs naturally in fruit, honey, and wine – so if she ever consumes any of these (and I’m guessing she does) she’s already eating cyclic ester of gluconic acid on a fairly regular basis without knowing it.
There are several examples of such naivety in her article, and an obvious lack of understanding about how the ingredients developed by the companies in our industry usually reflect those found in nature, or offer benefits that simply mimic how natural compounds in foods behave during everyday cooking.
Ms Blythman seems not to comprehend this – or chooses not to. She uses phrases like ‘modified starch’ and ‘potato protein isolate’ to summon up shocks, in much the same way the young stars of Candyman repeat his name over and over again in an effort to bring him to life.
But just like the movie, the terrors Ms Blythman describes from her visit to FIE are just a work of fiction. They’re part of a wider scare story designed to frighten people into believing that products developed to enhance their lives are, in fact, a danger to their health. Her tale is a long way from the reality of the industry I work in, and as preposterous as any horror film I’ve ever seen, and overlooks the overwhelmingly positive impact that food and beverage ingredients have on our lives.
* http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/21/a-feast-of-engineering-whats-really-in-your-food
At Ingredient Communications we help our customers tell their stories in a positive and engaging way that can overcome misconceptions and misunderstandings.
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