It’s no doubt happened to you.
You head off to a movie, Church, or an evening show of some kind and make your way to your seat.  As you settle in, you quickly notice that a person sitting nearby, or worse, right next to you is reeking of cologne, perfume, or some other strong-smelling personal care product.
As much as you want to get away from this overpowering smell, you realize with dismay that you have nowhere to go. All the other seats are filled. Besides, it would be so rude to move!
Your hopes for an enjoyable event are dashed as the synthetic smells you are forced to inhale start to give you a nasty headache or worse, breathing problems.
Even if someone does not have an allergic reaction to synthetic aromas, the assault on one’s nostrils is still avoided by many who seek to limit chemical exposures of all kinds. I myself avoid going near Subway or the bakery of a Walmart, for example, as the fake food aromas wafting forth from the chemical infused bread, cakes and cookies that are baking are absolutely nauseating.
Chemical sensitivity to fragrances used by retailers is fairly common.
Chemical Fragrances to be Used in Food Packaging
Avoiding synthetic smells is about to get a whole lot trickier.
More chemical smells are on the way harnessed via an “invisible technology” which food and beverage companies hope will tantalize your nostrils as you shop, enticing you to buy, buy, BUY!
Steven Landau, Chief Technological Officer for ScentSational Technologies said:
“… the sense of smell has been the most neglected sense in brand marketing strategies. Of the five senses, smell is the most powerful in driving consumer preference, conjuring up memories and creating purchase intent. As a result, our customers [food and beverage companies] have been asking for a low cost technology to deliver aroma from the shelf.”
The fake food aromas are delivered to the potential consumer whenever a product is handled through a coating that adheres to the product packaging.
This patent-pending technology called “Encapscent” is applied as a microencapsulated coating (MEC) to the outside of the food or drug packaging. The custom flavored, FDA approved “food grade” coatings are protected by microscopic cells that are ruptured when the product is touched or picked up.  The scent can be released over and over again as millions of these cells are applied to each and every package.
Mr. Landau insists the coating is in compliance with food packaging regulations and is safe for use with beverage, food and pharmaceutical packaging as it does not come into contact with the food or drug itself.
What about a child riding in a grocery cart who picks up a box of cookies, sniffs the box and then sucks his thumb?
Bet that hasn’t been tested, has it? No worries. By the time the general public figures out the likely health hazards from these deliciously aromatic yet completely synthetic coatings, all the people involved in the development of this “invisible technology” will most likely be long gone and relaxing in Dubai, courtesy of a very lucrative and ScentSational IPO.
So now our children are to be guinea pigs not only for the artificial ingredients inside the package but also the artificial flavors engineered for release into the air and no doubt onto your hands via the outside of the package?
It seems that taking your child shopping will be getting a whole lot more dangerous. Looks like it won’t just be the folks in the deli section who are wearing latex gloves.
And, as the lady in the picture is demonstrating, a surgical mask would probably be a good idea too.
Sources
ScentSational packaging coating delivers food or drink aroma
Like Trader Joes! Have you ever noticed how it smells like fresh bread in that store, but no fresh bread can be found anywhere? I was so confused when I first shopped there for the first time last last November — so certain I could at last find a place that sold fresh bread, but was truly so confused when no fresh unadulterated bread could be found anywhere! I was literally walking in circles around the store!
Everything in that store is in a package or a box — and I don’t see how it can be GMO free as it claims to be — canola oil and soy lecithin is in nearly every product! Even the water crackers are no longer pure these days! And the ice cream! Yikes — we really do have to make EVERYTHING ourselves these days, which feels like a full time job a lot of times.
Is Trader Joes really GMO free as it claims to be?????? Does anyone know? I asked some of the employees and looked online and they said yes, but it doesn’t make sense to me that they can maintain GMO free status in all their packaged foods, so I have been erring on the side of caution and only shopping there for emergency salad stuff, much to my husband’s dismay. He was so thrilled to have a Trader Joes near us and loves foods from a box and meat in a package.
Hope to receive more insight on this.
But I am so thankful for my farm co-op! Thank God for this — what would I do without it?
We have not one, but two Trader Joe’s in our city of around 100,000 and I shop there but have begun to wonder just what you have brought up….how do we really know if it’s really organic, really GMO free and where do all of these items labeled with “Trader Joe’s” really come from? The olive oils do say from Spain or Italy or California. Where are they all packaged if from there? Imagine the processing plants for TJ’s that crank out all of those items! Our WAPF Shopper’s Guide recommends a lot of Trader Joe products, soooo I wanna trust them! In our 2012 guide, they even have Fat Tyre Pale Ale! I wrote to both Fat Tyre and to WAPF as to why beer would be included, was it organic, naturally fermented? What? WAPF did not answer me but Fat Tyre did. They said maybe because they are sustainable, but they are not organic and the beer is not naturally fermented. Sigh……Sarah, help! 🙂
There is and always will be some level of trust required as we procure our food. To get the highest level of integrity, going directly to the producer is the most reliable method of food procurement. The next best thing to going directly to the producer is to have a small business person or store locally do the sourcing/consolidation of local foods for you in one place. the next level beyond that would be a Trader Joe’s and at worst, a place like Whole Foods. As you add layers, the level of trust deteriorates and everything becomes a simple business transaction. You want to make sure the personal relationship is in there somehow as much as possible as this is the way to get the highest quality product regardless of any certifications that may or may not be involved.
At some point, however, you MUST let it go and just EAT, ENJOY, and LIVE. Worrying about this and that and trying to achieve perfection in all areas will do more damage than eating something that may not be as perfect as you think and believe it is!
Thank you Sarah! You are absolutely correct with the EAT, ENJOY and LIVE part! I’ve learned that while traveling and visiting with people. If somebody has gone to a lot of work to feed me, I will eat whatever with thanks. I would never say anything about what’s right or wrong with food at that point. I would only pass on citrus and kiwi, which I seem to be allergic to. While on the road and in Europe, I ATE, ENJOYED and certainly was LIVING! So, even though a Whole Foods is coming to our area, I’ll stick with TJ’s and our farmer’s market. I will go check it out and I understand they carry chicken feet, so there’s hope! 😉
Every health food store uses that excuse, that they’re GMO free, no MSG, no hormones/antibiotics, etc. When you ask a clerk about a product or mention something to them, they say oh no we don’t carry anything with that. IT IS COMPLETE BULL. Just because that’s their blanket store policy, doesn’t mean anything about particular products. If you find a product with wheat, rice, soy, corn, etc, and it’s not organic, it’s GMO. MSG comes under many different names. I used to work at whole foods and had a particularly clueless supervisor. A woman came up to him and said that the canola oil in some butter spread was genetically modified. The supervisor was so dumb, he couldn’t get his mind around this idea because in his mind, “we don’t sell anything that’s GMO! but she’s saying that the canola oil itself is GMO!” He had obviously never thought about it before. If people aren’t informed, they just follow the crowd/what they’re told. That’s why Whole Foods puts people like that in charge, and drives out people like me who want real change.
Though, I went in Trader Joes recently and found amazing deals on bags of organic lemons and limes. Each was $2. Their bags of OG avocados were only 3.99, but pretty small and only one of them was not bad (I think it’s the season, because all the avocados I’ve gotten lately have been bad before they even ripen fully.)They also have good deals on wild frozen fish. Overall though, these “health food” stores are absolutely full of crap in terms of the products they sell.
Thanks! Haven’t heard from Sarah on this yet, but hopefully. I so want TJ’s to be okay, but it’s the quantity of all that they put out the has me wondering….HOW? I guess, if it says ORGANIC, it has to be GMO free, correct? BTW…..how do they check on things being organic and especially in China and Mexico? I mean, how many USDA agents are there out there in the world checking on this? Gads….we are a trusting bunch aren’t we? 😉
No gmo’s are used in certified organic food. 3rd parties certify products coming from overseas. Don’t put all your trust in a supermarket. It is a business for making money. There are bad and good products at the supermarket no matter where you go. Become informed. If it’s not organic, and contains ingredients that are mostly GMO nowadays, then stay away. I tend to think if it’s a european product using wheat or whatnot then the wheat is not GMO because those aren’t allowed in Europe. I’m more inclined to eat those products if need be.
Bottom line… find sources you really trust, like farms for most things, and create your own nourishing, whole foods at home.
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500202_162-20080320.html
Yes, I agree the “forced” intake of the manufactured aromas are problematic but what can one do? One could visit only farmers markets but those of us in areas without such places are stuck with the marketing schemes of the sellers. One can try informing the general public but learning anything new is an inconveniences and thus will be ignored.
Yes – the chemical transfer to other items will be unavoidable. Hopefully some stores will opt out of buying these items – the Northeast does not have farmers markets in the winter…
What about the people that work stocking shelves? Guess i don’t want that job.
This is SO disturbing! I agree with you and all the comments that this is so multi-layered. It’s not just touching the package in the store…it’s all the way through the chain (at the plant, in the box, in the truck, unloading, shelving, shopping, checking out/bagging, coming home, unloading, moving it in the pantry, eating it (ick), throwing it away, transfer to the landfill) Think how many little trails of these chemicals will be whizzing all over. People will take it home on their clothes from the store, especially people who work at the stores. You think a trash truck smells bad now, just wait until it’s a huge mix of “delicious” food smells mixed with rot. GROSS! What are they thinking??? This is completely deceptive and it really should not be allowed. It infringes on those of us merely passing through the store. It’s bad enough we have to be exposed to the ads, the packaging/marketing, but now to have to smell it (via chemicals). And the poor people with MCS. I used to suffer a lot more before healing, but I still hate Lowes/Home Depot this time of year with their fertilizer OBSESSION and the laundry and candle/air spray aisles at the store. This totally sucks.
I can’t help but wonder about the grocery store workers who stock shelves all day, handling those packages, and having CONSTANT exposure to those new chemicals!
Manicure workers have elevated risks of many diseases as a result of exposure to “safe” products, and they wear masks. Can you imagine the public relations disaster it would be if grocery store clerks had to start wearing masks to protect thmselves from the “food” they were selling you?
These places also really make me sick. Just walking by them in a mall will do it . I don’t see how people can stand to work there. Hair spray also.
@Phocion the problem is not resisting them .. that’s the easy part. You will be forced to smell them is the problem as I see it as these microscopic aroma cells are floating everywhere in the air as all the other shoppers obliviously handle these products.
Ha! No worries here; I’ve trained myself over the years to completely ignore advertisements (I am mostly unable to recall even a TV commercial seen in the last few minutes). I keep sharp these days by going to the grocery store in a fasted state and practice ignoring those oh-so-delicious smells coming from the deli departments. I’m getting quite good at it.
I’m willing to bet the agent they use to make the scent stick to the packaging is gluten. What else could be food-grade? Next thing you know fake-a-loo scent is going to be all over our hands, in our nose/mouth and down our throats along with gluten.