Are you eating wood pulp?

**nuisance26** · 09-22-2011, 07:34 AM

~And yet another reason to forgo processed foods and cook from scratch. Manufacturers add an ingredient called cellulose to many ready to eat items, fast food and even "diet" and "high fiber" foods. It won't kill you but it has no real nutritional value, because it's wood pulp. Yeah, the same stuff they put in disposable diapers.
15 Food Companies That Serve You 'Wood' - TheStreet
I'll bet you have some of these items in your pantry. I am so surprised by the cake mix and icing. I haven't bought either in two years but they were regulars in my pantry before them. Ugh.~

**nuisance26** · 09-22-2011, 07:37 AM

~Oh my goodness, it's even in Frosty's! Why???!!!

~

**NicJean** · 09-22-2011, 08:27 AM

And people are shocked at how good homemade anything tastes, comparatively (why would you be shocked? you've been eating WOOD!). Blows my mind, just nuts.

**TheRootedNomad** · 09-22-2011, 08:30 AM

Ok. I read the article and the slide show. I am now inspired to do a bit more research. I'm not quite sure exactly what goes into "cellulose" which will be my starting point. I have long since been a believer in that the more processed a food is the worse it becomes for you.

To play devil's advocate on this though, let's just say I go and find that cellulose is simply ground tree. We'll say it's pine tree as pine is a soft wood making it easy to grind. Would this then be plant roughage? Now we haven’t been culturally trained to eat trees, we use them for things like warmth and shelter, but why do we see them different then other plants that we eat?

Now, that posed, I don’t think, good for you, bad for you, or irrelevant that the food companies care. They just see profit margins

.

**monkeywrangler71** · 09-22-2011, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by TheRootedNomad

To play devil's advocate on this though, let's just say I go and find that cellulose is simply ground tree. We'll say it's pine tree as pine is a soft wood making it easy to grind. Would this then be plant roughage? Now we haven’t been culturally trained to eat trees, we use them for things like warmth and shelter, but why do we see them different then other plants that we eat?

That was my first thought. What's the difference between eating ground up corn or eating ground up tree? I can think of a lot worse things being added to food.

**nodmicks** · 09-22-2011, 08:44 AM

MMMMM odd and interesting! Anytime DS goes out with friends it is always KFC popcorn chicken. Wonder if he will care it is wood.

**Ceashels** · 09-22-2011, 08:54 AM

Cellulose is in so many different items and types of items. It is the basis of Rayon, some plastics, thickening agents, etc.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose"]Cellulose - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Cellulose-Ibeta-from-xtal-2002-3D-balls.png" class="image" title="Three-dimensional structure of cellulose.">

Cellulose comprises the walls of cells, plant and animal. So when I eat a carrot, a banana, a shrimp or a steak, I am eating cellulose.

I think more awareness and education needs to go into how to eat healthy unprocessed foods overall.

**Sara Noel** · 09-22-2011, 08:56 AM

I think worse than wood is mechanically separated poultry and meat.
Here's a bit on snopes about it.

snopes.com: Mechanically Separated Chicken

**Debbie-cat** · 09-22-2011, 10:08 AM

The only items I have bought on that list is the pancake syrup, the cakes and frostings. I don't even buy many of those anymore unless I can get them free or close to free.

The information doesn't surprise me. I was surfing a while back (I wish I would had saved the website) but it was a recipe to make homemade bread using wood instead of flour. Very interesting!!!

**imagine** · 09-22-2011, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by Debbie-cat

The only items I have bought on that list is the pancake syrup, the cakes and frostings. I don't even buy many of those anymore unless I can get them free or close to free.

The information doesn't surprise me. I was surfing a while back (I wish I would had saved the website) but it was a recipe to make homemade bread using wood instead of flour. Very interesting!!!

I googled making bread from wood instead of flour.

a site came up that listed how to make bread from wood said the directions were for 1884

**imagine** · 09-22-2011, 11:03 AM

I also found this
"Edible wood may solve food problem short article form 1934"

Edible Wood May Solve Food Problem

**imagine** · 09-22-2011, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by nuisance26

~Oh my goodness, it's even in Frosty's! Why???!!!

~

I found this ( bold is mine)

"While some food manufactures say they aren’t increasing the percentage of cellulose in their products, others are boosting the amount of fiber in their foods with cellulose and other ingredients. Companies can save money by using it, even though it costs more by weight than conventional ingredients. Cellulose gives food “more water, more air, a creamy feeling in [the] mouth with less of other ingredients,” and only a very small amount is needed, says Niels Thestrup, vice president of the hydrocolloids department for Danisco AS. The Copenhagen-based company makes ingredients and enzymes for food, cleaning supplies and other products.

This is why cellulose gets added to non-fat and low-fat foods like low-fat ice cream, sour cream, yogurt, and non-dairy creamers, among others. It gives the mouth-feel of creaminess when the real cream is removed."

Would You Like Some Wood Pulp In Your Shredded Cheese? | Food Renegade

**low-1** · 09-22-2011, 11:25 AM

Wood, particularly inner bark, of many trees is an excellent and often over-looked wilderness survival food. People have starved to death while being surrounded with the bounty of the forest.

The word 'Adirondack' is a Native American expression applied to the Algonquians by the Iroquois, who intended it as a derogatory name meaning 'the ones who eat bark'.

Here's just one site regarding the practice: Edible Pine Bark | Survival Topics

**nuisance26** · 09-22-2011, 11:44 AM

~If someone can give me info on the nutrients provided by eating wood pulp, I'd love to see it. The little research I've done so far highlights the use of white pine bark for it's high sugar and vitamin C content. The American Indians supposedly gained weight when eating a survival diet of this stuff.
As I said, it's certainly edible but hardly palatable. The food industry knows people won't buy wood pulp as food so they use a code name for what they're doing. I really don't like that.
I was thinking what NicJean said. Just another realization why homemade tastes so much better.~

**shoiji** · 09-22-2011, 12:44 PM

Suppose knowing what cellulose or what kind could be important. However I have yet to come across it in any recipe that I make from scratch. So I tend to think that it is not really necessary in the first place as a food product. Really do no understand why USDA would even allow it in food. Where do they get it from if it has to be listed. Sounds more like a by-product.

Just makes me want to continue making food from scratch.