Perhaps conspiracy is not the best word to use, as conspiracy implies commission of an illegal act in secrecy. Putting toxic stuff in our food is
hardly illegal any more.
A wider meaning for conspiracy is doing something harmful, or potentially harmful, in secrecy - i. e. without informing the potential victims of the
harm.
In that sense, there is plenty of evidence for food based conspiracies.
Nowhere on the labels do products inform you of the acceptable percentages of hair, rodent feces, insect parts, and other yucky stuff that can be in
your food. Sure, if you dig you can find the information - and actually, a few cockroach legs and mouse droppings may be less harmful to you than some
of the chemicals - but out of sight, out of mind. They're hoping the great majority of people don't realize it, don't believe it, or don't think
about it.
Then there are the preservatives. Companies cleverly avoid the requirement to list preservatives on the ingredients list by using a product that has
already had preservatives added to it. Since they themselves did not add the preservative, they aren't required to list it on the final product
label. Therefore, there's no way to tell how many and what types of preservatives may be contained in a food that has multiple complex ingredients.
Just one little example, the coconut flakes used in the macaroons you buy were probably preserved with sulfites, but the cookie maker doesn't have to
list sulfites on the cookie label.
Other chemicals are allowed to be added to foods in spite of the fact that they are known to be harmful simply because there isn't anything less
risky that performs the function as well. Umm, what??
Just a few examples:
Your decaffeinated coffee probably contains the solvent methylene chloride.
Your orange flavoured drink has tricalcium phosphate, cellulose gum, Xanthan gum and the colour tartrazine which is already banned in some
countries.
Your yellow cheese has added colouring, possibly titanium oxide which is banned in Europe.
Your bread may have sodium-stearoyl-2-lactylate, caramel and calcium propionate.
Your margarine contains potassium sorbate and monoglycerides.
Your pickled cucumbers probably contain polysorbate 80, alum and artificial colourings.
Your sausages contain nitrites, which are known to cause cancer.
Source
Another trick is the use of misleading names. Your processed cheese food spread usually contains "cellulose." Know what cellulose is? "Cellulose is
the structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants." That doesn't sound too bad until you discover that industrial/commercial
cellulose products are usually derived from wood pulp or cotton. Wait - there's either sawdust or cotton fibers in my cheese?? Yep.
Yet another sleight of hand performed admirably by the food industry is the fact that what's added to the ingredient before it becomes the ingredient
doesn't have to be listed anywhere.
The US Environmental Protection Agency at one time identified 24 chemical carcinogens that went right through the chain and ‘appeared' on the
dinner plate. These were the herbicides, pesticides and fungicides so liberally applied through the growing process of plant foods. Animals carry
their own hidden "additives" with hormones for growth and increased milk production, antibiotics freely given to farm animals to prevent and cure
animal sicknesses and residue from various chemicals given to ward off insects etc. Chickens are given mixtures containing copper sulphate, lead and
arsenic to help growth and many of these remain in the meat and eventually find their way into the human intestinal tract.
(Same source)
Tell me again there isn't anything harmful in our food that "they" are trying to keep secret (i. e. hidden) as much as possible?