If you by any chance have a box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese in your pantry (and we hope you don’t), you may want to get it outta there. Along with the luck of the Irish, this St. Patty’s Day came with at least eight people finding shards of metal in their macaroni.
According to Kraft Foods Group Inc, boxes with dates between September 18, 2015 and October 11, 2015 may be affected. A recall has been issued for approximately 6.5 million boxes of original flavor Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
Luckily, no one has been reported to be injured by the metal so far. Kraft’s response? They advise people not to eat the Mac n’ Cheese, and to return affected boxes for a full refund.
Our response? None of us should be eating this stuff anyway. The metal shards are, sadly, just the tip of the iceberg. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is one processed product which often replaces an entire meal for many families – or at least serves as a bulky side dish. This is unfortunate, because it is highly counterproductive to nutrition.
First of all, if you read the ingredients label on a box of the stuff, you will find many you can’t pronounce. This in itself is a red flag. The second red flag is that it is made of enriched wheat flour.
Enriched wheat flour, besides being stripped of real nutrients and pumped full of artificial ones, contains gluten, which many people are sensitive to, and on top of that, wheat has been found to be both inflammatory and addictive, and a player in obesity and many other lifestyle-based illnesses.
On top of that, the gooey yellow stuff contains two artificial flavors: Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. Both of these colorings have been linked to allergic reactions, as well as behavioral issues and hyperactivity in children (ironic, since it’s largely children that consume it!).Yellow 6 has also been linked by some research to adrenal tumors in lab studies.
Metal shards are certainly scary… but so is ingesting these cheap, processed, fattening, and potentially poisonous ingredients on a regular basis. This is one product you definitely do NOT want to have around.
-The Alternative Daily
Sources:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/03/17/kraft-recall/24934751
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/04/04/artificial-dyes-how-to-find-and-avoid
https://www.thealternativedaily.com/kraft-macaroni-and-cheese-ingredients-banned-overseas-not-u-s
