Artificial flavours are a really complex issue and as thus cannot be simply answered.
Though, "no artificial flavours" doesn't guarantee it's what you think. For strawberry taste a lot of companies use a special mold which conveniently tastes awefully similar to actual strawberries but is so much easier to cultivate (and harvest all through the year) they won't bother with strawberries at all. But they can still use the word natural flavour, as this mold is a natural product (and it's completely save)
And orange juice is a whole different story. The things they do to orange juice and still sell it as 100% pure orange juice is pure malice.
If anything I am against misleading custumers with aweful buzz words.
You do realize you're pretty much eating bugs any time you have chocolate, right? Unless you somehow harvest the beans, sugar, and milk all on your own and make sure for yourself that there are absolutely no bugs in it.
Any time you eat shellfish you're eating giant sea bugs.
If you live in areas that don't filter their water (like, New York) you're literally drinking copepods (sea lice)
And, hell. If you eat cheese or yogurt you're eating bacteria.
Hell, the only reason you're capable of digesting anything at all is because you have a whole host of microorganisms swimming around in your gut.
Ain't life grand?
So OP, for you chemicals are higher quality? There's a reason why those chemicals got banned you know, it's because they make you sick in time.
I'd rather have those crushed roaches, the ones used for the red colour, then some chemicals, thank you very much.
So some people don't want the natural chemicals, because some of those are produced from some arguably unpleasant bugs.
Yet they prefer some crazy-shit goo that comes out of some factory with god knows what effects it has on the body.
I leave the conclusions to you.
If I apply your logic to water, if I make water by burning Hydrogen in a lab, it's not "natural," but if I purify it from seawater, it is.
They're both H2O, regardless of where they came from. Same thing can be said about synthesized flavorings vs "extracted" flavorings.
Absolutely! Artificial junk has no place in the food chain. New reseearch is showing the negative health effects, and as the awareness behind these health effects grow, more research is being done. Here is just one article I recently read, but there are LOTS more.
I read about a recent study on artifical blue colors' negative health effects on KnowGuff (.com) ...would post the link but not allowed since I'm too new to this forum. Search for the article. it's a good read for anyone who's totally out of the loop on food additives and all the chemical junk in food we eat.
Everyone has a responsibility to educate themselves.
I try to avoid products with lots of artificial crap. Why? Because many are dangerous. So no, I don't avoid those with fewer artificial crap, I avoid those with more.
I would rather eat clean natural non-disease producing bugs all the time for colours in food rather then eat chemicals by the ton, because, you know, those bugs won't really make me develop diseases in the long run... unlike those damned chemicals. And as long as I don't see the bugs themselves in the finished product, I don't really care much.
---------- Post added 2013-02-06 at 07:50 PM ----------
I remember a similar thread and someone saying what they don't eat because they're grossed out by it. One thing stuck in my mind and now I shall tell it to you because I'm evil like that
So, now, if bugs gross you out, I present you... eggs. Eggs are a chicken's period.
Yes, actually I do.
Human progress isn't measured by industry. It's measured by the value you place on a life.
Just, be kind.