All the images below are part of an ongoing series entitled “Reading the Back,” where I photograph items found in the grocery store that contain ingredients that are restricted (or at least require warning labels) in countries across Europe due to health concerns.
I obscure the names of the food brands by painting a black and white negative (a homage to cliché verre) and layering it with the C-41 photograph I had taken. As a third layer, I incorporate another black and white negative that I have ink stamped with text that references the ingredient of concern I had found in the food product by reading the ingredients listed on its back.
This project is inspired by a concept from my childhood; whenever my family visited with our family in Germany, my mother would bring along a large, empty suitcase that she filled with chocolate from Germany to bring back to the U.S. When I asked why, she said that even the German chocolates that were the same brand sold in the U.S. had different ingredients because Germany has higher standards for regulating ingredients put in food. As a young adult, I have returned to this concept with questions about what my health would look like if I, too, grew up in Germany and grocery shopped there. On a larger scale, I question the health standards for food sold in the U.S.
Below is the artist statement for the piece "E171":
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According to U.S. Right to Know, a nonprofit public health research group, “A significant body of research, mostly from rodent models and in vitro studies, has linked titanium dioxide with health risks related to the gut, including intestinal inflammation, alterations to the gut microbiota, and more. It is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Group 2B, as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
As a food additive, titanium dioxide and its nanoparticles in particular have been associated with DNA damage and cell mutations, which in turn, have potential to cause cancer. When used as a food coloring, it is known as E171,” (Conley Titanium Dioxide, banned...) Essentially, one of the most common food additives in the U.S. may cause cancer.
The additive was banned as a food additive in the EU on January 18, 2022. According to the European Commission’s website, “[The European Food Safety Authority] does not rule out genotoxicity concerns, meaning that there is a possibility that the use of titanium dioxide as food additive might cause DNA or chromosomal damage. In the EU, the fact that the safety of a food additive cannot be confirmed is sufficient to warrant a ban,” (Juelicher Goodbye E171: The...) Pictured is a frozen food product (pizza rolls) that contains this ingredient in my local U.S. grocery store.
Works Cited
Conley, Mikaela. “Titanium Dioxide, Banned in Europe, Is One of the Most Common Food Additives in the U.S.” U.S. Right to Know, U.S. Right to Know, 6 Jan. 2024, usrtk.org/chemicals/titanium- dioxide/.
Juelicher, Sabine. “Goodbye E171: The EU Bans Titanium Dioxide as a Food Additive.” Health and Food Safety - Goodbye E171: The EU Bans Titanium Dioxide as a Food Additive, European Commission, 18 Jan. 2022, ec.europa.eu/newsroom/sante/items/732079/en.
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