It’s been a growing suspicion of mine over the last several years. How can I make a fresh loaf of bread and within three days, it will become a mold-growing factory? Then next to it a purchased loaf of bread from the grocery can sit for a month or more and show no signs of mold. It might be a little stiff, but always free of mold. What are the bread producers blending in the bread ingredients that give it such “staying power?”

I see the same thing with a lot of milk products. Whipping cream has a refrigerator shelf life of weeks. Whipping cream in my grandmother’s frig didn’t have that miracle additive. In my adult years the refrigerator has become a storage place offering extended longevity that amazes me. Something needs an explanation.

Cabinet member RFK Jr. has gotten my attention in his outspoken reputation concerning the foods Americans consume. He believes the ultra-processed foods that are readily available to our citizens are cutting the average life expectancy five years shorter than in other developed nations. He really got my attention when he said that many of the ingredients and food additives used in the United States are banned or restricted in Europe.

When I heard that dyes like those in Cheetos were associated with cancer-causing agents, my taste buds sighed. Am I to eliminate one of my favorite snacks from my diet? What other foods might I be eating that’s slowly poisoning my body? We are being warned!

Some of my favorite dinner guests when sitting around my parents’ table were foreign missionaries. My parents had the gift of hospitality, especially in regards to visiting missionaries and evangelists. Those guests were blessed to savor some of my mother’s outstanding foods, and my siblings and I got to hear fascinating stories about life I could only imagine.

I remember one missionary couple sharing about how they were invited to eat a delicacy of grub worms with one of their new church members. That’s when they truly understood why Christians ask God to “bless the food for the nourishment of our bodies.”

Food consumption for Americans is a popular topic that can go in a lot of different directions, especially since new light is being shed on the contents of our foods. I will continue to follow the studies, realizing I may learn some startling facts about what I’m eating.

However, if the early Church could sit in on our food discussions, they would stress what Jesus taught about questions on consumption: “It’s not what goes into the mouth that contaminates a person in God’s sight. It’s what comes out of the mouth that contaminates the person.” 

The FDA and food processors may need an overhaul, but we need not worry about God’s Word. It needs no explanation and points its readers and hearers to life with Jesus – not the expectancy kind but the eternal, no-ending kind.

Camille Anding, The Daily Leader, P. O. Box 551, Brookhaven, MS 39602.