My husband loves Mexican food. He will often use lime juice in making his food. So instead of buying the actual limes, he picked up a bottle of this. This was actually bought at our local health food store Sprouts.
I noticed in the fridge and I immediately looked at the label – mainly out of curiosity. I was very surprised at what I found!
All I expected was maybe lime juice concentrate. Sodium Bisulfite is a food additive that can cause reactions in those sensitive to it. According to Livestrong, “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers sodium bisulfite to be safe – when used in accordance with good manufacturing practice. It is not allowed to be used on fresh produce intended to be served raw, or in any meat or other food that contains vitamin B1” This strict regulation was called for after the FDA investigated 13 deaths and 500 reactions in those who were allergic. Wow. Makes me want to think twice before ever using this. According to Natural News, “Sodium benzoate chokes out your body’s nutrients at the DNA cellular level by depriving mitochondria cells of oxygen, sometimes completely shutting them down. Just as humans need oxygen to breathe, cells need oxygen to function properly and to fight off infection, including cancer.” In even more harmful news, If sodium benzoate is combined with vitamin C, it can cause a chemical reaction that causes benzene to be formed. Benzene is a known carcinogen. This is supposed to be just lime juice! From now on, he is only going to use real limes. Another thing to note, I looked at the lime juice label at Target and it did not contain these additives. So if you need to buy lime juice instead of limes, you can try theirs. The main message of this post is make sure to read all labels!