The Dirty on Bleached Flour, Pesticides, Hormones, Chlorine and More!

It's quite scary when one says the words 'Bleached Flour' for most flour an everyday food item and bleach for some an everyday harsh chemical cleaner.   So mixing these two word together does get one thinking, do they really bleach flour? and the answer would be yes they do.

    In this article from Healthy Eating Politics, Alternative Views on Food and Health goes into the processes of bleaching flour in America from fungicides on the seed, to spraying hormones on the plants to stimulate production to pesticide spraying in the field.  The wheat berries are then collected and placed into insecticide sprayed barrels then according to Healthy Eating Politics the grains fumigated by the farmer.

This all occurring before the wheat has reached the high speed milling processes of modern day.  These modern day milling techniques remove the nutrient dense germ and bran of the wheat., leaving the starchy endosperm remaining.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wheat-kernel_nutrition.svgn

So basically you are left with a pesticide, insecticide, hormone, fungicide riddled white powder.  Yum Yum!

But that's not all!  The flour is then subjected to a Chlorine Gas Bath that bleaches the flour white, oxidises it and ages the flour reducing gluten content. 

A point raised in the article about bleached flour at Healthy Eating Politics website that I had never thought of before is why Bread Brands state enriched with vitamins and minerals, shouldn't these already exist naturally in the bread? 

This amazing article at Safe Food NZ, Our Daily Bread is a highly recommended article on the top six pesticides used in NZ flour and their harmful effects.  The various breads, flour, milling processes, wholemeal vs white and so much information and available to download.  

I hope these article stimulate you to make the change to Organic Stone Ground Flours for the health of yourself, your crew and influence your guest by incorporating Organic Stone Ground Flour into the menu and stating the reasons why. 

Below are links to Organic Stone Ground Flours

U.K Organic Stone Ground Flour

New Zealand Organic Stone Ground Flour

Australia Organic Stone Ground Flour

Ship-Flour Mill UK the Ultimate Mill

Ask your local Superyacht Provisioner for Organic Stone Ground Flour and Breads.