salty dogs to the north...

[babetteq]

So, I"m reading the news and there is this article on Canadians and salt. Here it is.
http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyand...9-47fcb9289e83

I found it particularly frightening to read about cheerios. They yell about how healthy they are, but they've got TSP in them (the stuff you clean your walls with before you paint), more salt than anything... poison.. it's starting to sound like.

babs

[starsapphire]

So, I"m reading the news and there is this article on Canadians and salt. Here it is.
http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyand...9-47fcb9289e83

I found it particularly frightening to read about cheerios. They yell about how healthy they are, but they've got TSP in them (the stuff you clean your walls with before you paint), more salt than anything... poison.. it's starting to sound like.

babs

tri-sodium phosphate in Cheerios?

[northernmom2boys]

I found this on a website

A: Marna, I contacted General Mills. Here's an excerpt from their response:
"TSP is used as a buffer to adjust the acidic nature of the cereal dough. In home cleaning products TSP is used in large quantities. In our food products we use very small amounts. Theoretically, any food grade base could be used: sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide, ammonium phosphate, etc. At General Mills we have found that TSP works best in our particular products, and has been approved as safe for use in food by the Food and Drug Administration."

"As soon as TSP dissolves in the gastric juices of the stomach it is no longer present as such, only as sodium ions and a phosphate ion. In fact, this disassociation takes place even earlier, during the making of the cereal as it performs its buffering job. So one consumes very little — if any — TSP. It's important to note that the body doesn't distinguish the source of simple ions, whether they came in as an inherent part of the food or as part of an added ingredient. These ions are consumed naturally in large amounts in foods and water and they're both necessary for life. The body already has 'pools' of each ion; TSP in cereal adds just a few more 'drops.'" This isn't the first time we've heard consumers question the presence of TSP, although we've never been able to actually find anything that indicts its low-level presence as harmful — however shocking "eating TSP" may sound! The other possible "buffers" mentioned by General Mills would also raise questions with most natural foods consumers, no doubt, though they don't "ring bells" as TSP does, because we've all seen it in Spic 'n Span floor cleaners and wallpaper stripper, as Marna notes.

[Valerie in WA]

Eww.

All the more reason to eshew boxed cereal and eat:
*homemade muffins or quickbread (moderately easy)
*homemade granola (very easy)
*toast & a piece of fruit (super easy)
*homemade pancakes (moderately easy)
*homemade oatmeal (very easy)

Then again, go ahead with your Cheerios if you want... after all it's only a little TSP.

Would you like a little arsenic with that?