50% of tortillas are contaminated with chemicals and cancer precursors

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Industrialized tortillas contain up to 90 additives, dyes, bleaches and corn treated with herbicides that cause obesity, allergies, nausea, epilepsy and carcinogenic problems, alerted organizations.

50% of the production of tortillas in Mexico is “poisoned” with chemicals, additives, dyes and herbicides, capable of causing cancer, denounced the organizations El Poder del Consumidor, the Alianza por Nuestra Tortilla, and the Association of Organic Consumers ( ACO ).

The director of the ACO, Mercedes López Martínez, revealed that industrialized tortillas, made with ultra-processed flour, contain up to 90 chemical additives; whose intake triggers obesity and hyperactivity in children to migraines, epilepsy, and cancerous diseases in severe cases.

The problem, he indicated, is that 50% of the 110 thousand tortilla factories that exist in the country -reported by the Inegi- use flours that contain chemicals and substances that affect health and eliminate the nutritional value of the original tortilla, such as the contribution of calcium, iron, and protein.

“They are poisoning us without informing us. At the Association of Organic Consumers we did an investigation where we found several corn flours that contain glyphosate – a carcinogenic herbicide – and transgenics in amounts that affect health.

“Industrialized corn flour contains between 64 and up to 90 additives, preservatives, gums and chemical dyes that harm people.”—   Mercedes López Martínez, director of the ACO

Serious illnesses due to contaminated tortillas

The Alianza por Nuestra Tortilla reported that industrialized tortillas, which do not follow the traditional process of nixtamalization –cooking corn based on lime– generate:

  • Allergies, hyperactivity in children and obesity, due to the lack of natural nutrients.
  • Nausea, migraine, and epileptic seizures, when a flavor enhancer called monosodium glutamate is present; that damages the nervous system, overstimulates neurons and generates a state of exhaustion.
  • Cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma due to the use of a herbicide called glyphosate, which is present in transgenic corn, is usually used in the production of industrialized corn flour.

Mexico Daily Post