What Chemicals Are in Food? Simple Solutions to Avoid Harmful Toxins in Food

By Melinda Wenner Moyer, "How you can avoid BPA, mercury, pesticides and more chemicals in your food.," September/October 2011

How you can avoid BPA, mercury, pesticides and more chemicals in your food.

READER'S COMMENT:

"Thank you for this article. This has long been a concern for our family. Luckily my in-laws raise grass fed beef, chicken, and organic pork. I would love a source for more food companies that have eliminated BPA and other toxins from...

More Toxin Information
7 Simple Ways to Detox Your Diet and Your Home
The Dirty Dozen Plus: 14 Foods You Should Buy Organic
15 Foods You Don't Need to Buy Organic
Fish and Shellfish: 6 to Eat, 6 to Avoid
9 Green Products for a Healthy Kitchen
Green Up Your Kitchen Challenge

What’s a Meat-Lover to Do?

I replaced some of my meat with fish, selecting fish that were lower in fat (read: lower in the PCBs and dioxins that concentrate in fat), such as halibut and cod. I made sure that my choices were also low in mercury, a neurotoxin that could harm my baby’s brain development.

Since I generally don’t like the taste of fish that are high in omega-3 fats, such as salmon and sardines, I took an omega-3 supplement to fuel my little one’s growing brain. I also switched to organic meat from animals that ate only grass. According to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a nonprofit working for fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems, grass-fed animals are generally leaner than grain-fed (factory-farmed) animals and aren’t fed any animal products, so they accumulate fewer of these fat-residing toxins. I also began cooking with plant-based fats like olive oil rather than lard or butter.

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