What nutritional benefit is there to adding cellulose to food? Do you feel it is ethical for the FDA to set no limits on how much cellulose can be added to your food?

Dear Alyssa Parada,

I don't have a particularly high regard for the FDA, and don't place all that much reliance on their findings. With imported foods, I have even heard them called a "tombstone agency," taking action only after people start dying.

As for the cellulose, I actually have less concern than with some other additives...as a child I chewed and swallowed twigs and sticks...

One example of something I do feel concern is sucralose, the non-nutritive sweetener in Splenda and many diet sodas. Sucralose is a synthesized compound that no living body was ever exposed to before chemistry.            I accidentally bought diet soda and did not like how it felt in my body....      yet (like cellulose) the FDA has designated sucralose GRAS, Generally Regarded As Safe.

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Overall I like the idea of returning to a system of local foods, and find other ways of dealing with the problems cellulose solves.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not consider cellulose (or virgin wood pulp) to be hazardous for human consumption and sets no limit on how much can be used in food products. Virgin wood pulp is processed into cellulose gum, powdered cellulose, and other materials, which are used to make pet litter, asphalt, detergents, and plastics. It is also used in fast food and the industrialized food production system as a filler in puddings and baked goods as well as ice creams and crackers.