I wanted a snack, so while I was at Aldi the other day I picked up some dry roasted peanuts. I figured that peanuts should be fine, what could they possibly have to add to dry roasted peanuts except salt? Boy oh boy was I wrong. I guess I should be glad that peanuts were the first ingredient, but should something as simple as roasted peanuts have a list this long?
Maltodextrine is a flavor additive, and should be gluten free if they were processed here in the US, being made from corn, potato or rice. But in Europe and Great Britain it is made from wheat, so not knowing where exactly the ingredients from causes me a bit of worry.
Autolyzed yeast extract is similar, but not the same as MSG, which they also have pretty high on the list. It's a pretty creepy ingredient.
I quote www.celiac.com :
" From what I've read, Free Glutamic Acid (which for all practical purposes is the same as MSG) plays a prominent role in the life of yeasts. Furthermore, it seems that the producers of such yeasts actually use glutamic acid to speed up the growth of the yeast. These are apparently some of the factors that make the yeast contain a particularly large amount of Free Glutamic Acid. That is why they add it to so many processed foods - it is a flavor enhancer, as is MSG. Both seem to produce the same effect, which is to overstimulate neurons in the brain, creating the illusion of lots of flavor. The problem is, that over-stimulation can actually kill said neurons, not to mention cause permanent damage to the hypothalamus and other areas of the brain, often leading to weight problems and other health issues. This fact is one of the reasons why MSG is implicated in the obesity epidemic. Interestingly, MSG feed rats become obese, and are then commonly used by drug companies to develop obesity drugs." Uh, yeah. This is not something I want to be eating.
Corn syrup solids - just another name for our old friend High Fructose Corn Syrup. Plus, the third ingredient is sugar. Do we need both?
Natural flavorings - by law, if it is made with wheat it must be listed. However, it does not have to be listed if it's made with barley malt, which is just as bad as wheat. Pretty much russian roulette.
Xantham gum - a major help to GF bakers, it's a great stabilizing ingredient. But on a peanut??
All this and more on a simple little peanut. I won't be buying these ever again, and I will DEFINITELY be checking labels a little closer from now on.
Sources:
http://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/topic/36733-autolyzed-yeast-extract/
http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/faqs/f/Maltodextrin.htm
http://www.ask.com/web?q=Definition+of+Corn+Syrup+Solids&o=13747&l=sem&qsrc=466
http://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/topic/32932-natural-flavoring/