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I’m not Super Healthy Food Mom – not by a long shot. But, even I know that some foods are perfectly fine just the way nature intended them. Fruit is a prime example. Sweet, juicy and healthy. Kids already love it. So it should be reasonable to expect the modern food industry to leave well enough alone… right? Wrong.
Let me introduce you to Crazy Apples. Now your kids’ fruit can taste just like the artificial garbage you’ve been trying to keep them away from.
At first this may seem like a great idea. Kid wants bubble gum. Kid isn’t allowed to have bubble gum. Make fruit taste like bubble gum. Problem solved. But, is that really how we’re teaching our children to eat now? Since when did the super sweet flavor of an apple just not cut it anymore?
Let’s forget the unnecessary concept of adding junk food flavor to a healthy treat. I’m just as perplexed by the ‘mysterious’ presentation as well. I have a few problems with the Crazy Apples FAQ Page answers. Or, as I like to call them, “un-answers”.
“We can’t tell you exactly how we do it [get the flavor inside the apple]”
In other words: We aren’t going to explain the chemical process that happens to the food we want your children to eat. Just trust us!
“The only thing we add is 100% natural, zero-calorie natural flavorings”
Oh yeah – we’re also not going to tell you what those infused ingredients are. Again, trust us! And I have to wonder: are there any naturally extracted, food based materials that contain no calories at all? According to Kimberly Lummus, MS, RD, Texas Dietetic Association “…other than water and diet beverages, there is unfortunately no such thing as a zero-calorie or negative-calorie food.” [source] So what exactly are they putting in these apples? The words ‘natural flavorings’ can mean a lot of different things. “Mommy, can I have the beaver gland secretions flavor?”
“GMO? NO! Crazy Apples start as regular, fresh apples like you’d buy at your grocery store!”
Right. Because you NEVER find GMO apples at the grocery store – Just that horrible GMOs R Us store down the street.
Bonus Round: Crazy Apples May Be Coming To A School Near You
The School Nutrition Association has been talking about Crazy Apples since their revealing in 2010. They even showcased them at their annual national meeting. Now that they have made their retail debut, our children’s cafeterias may be next. Some public schools are already starting to tell parents they are not allowed to bring a hand made lunch from home because of perceived bad eating habits, but they’ll shove a mystery infused, bubble gum flavored apple at them and send them along with a smile. Lovely.
Leah Segedie, creator of Mamavation, has started a petition on Change.org calling for the USDA to halt any approval of this product being used for public school lunches. I’ve also seen a few other articles sharing the opinion that this is just going too far.
What do you think?
“lovely baby girl with green apple” Copyright © 123RF Stock Photos
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