Recently Yahoo news ran an article put out by Prevention magazine. It was titled "The 7 foods experts won't eat" and it caught my eye. Seven experts from differing fields of research or food production were asked what foods they would not eat. Here is the list with an abridged version of their reasoning.

Canned Tomatoes; due to their high acidity a potentially dangerous chemical is leached from the can lining.
Corn Fed Beef; because corn is not the cow's natural diet, eating it creates a product that is lower in nutrition than the alternative: grass fed beef.
Microwave Popcorn; allegedly there is a chemical compound in the lining of the bag that transfers to the popcorn when it pops that can cause liver damage and infertility.
Nonorganic Potatoes; due to the high pesticide and herbicide residue as well as the anti-sprouting chemical sprayed on the potatoes before they are bagged.
Farmed Salmon; because of the poor feed given to the fish, it is high in DDT and other known carcinogens.
Milk Produced with Artificial Hormones; this product has had a lot of bad press not too long ago due to the bovine growth hormone and its link to breast and prostate cancers.
Conventional Apples; due to their high level of pesticide residue and the links between this and cancer and now even Parkinson's.
The article lists further facts as well as the "experts" that were consulted.


I was surprised by some of the choices. I figured that apples would be on the list and the corn fed beef was not unexpected nor was the milk. I have heard lots of press about these foods, and even have local sources for raw milk and grass fed beef. Now the canned tomatoes and the potatoes did take me by surprise. I had heard that an anti-sprouting chemical was sprayed on potatoes, but kind of forgot about the chemicals used in growing the potatoes. I had not heard about any leaching of chemicals in tomato cans either.

I also found the correlation between the expert's field of study and the "bad" food very interesting. For example: the man who raises grass fed beef and writes books about sustainable agriculture is the one that chose corn fed beef as the food to avoid. Likewise, the person researching the chemical, BPA, is the one that recommends against canned tomatoes because of the risk of BPA contamination. Now, don't get me wrong, I am glad that I know this information, it helps me make healthy food choices. But I do resent that these people were listed in the beginning paragraph of the article as "the people at the forefront of food safety". Perhaps they all do have our safety in mind, but they do have a skewed take on what food is the healthiest. This article is a prime example of how spin is used in the media every day.