Secret Ingredients -- Should I be Concerned?

[Warlock]

I recently came across an imported product – I think it was imported – that boasted 18-odd secret ingredients. Should I be concerned? What are these secret ingredients?

Are they maybe anabasine, anatabine, cotinine, myosmine, nornicotine, or acetaldehyde (suspected addictive forming substances found in tobacco smoke)?

What about alcohol – is that a secret ingredient maybe?

Have they taken say Fudge Brownie concentrate and broken it down into its constituents (Ethyl Vanillin; Vanillin; Ethyl Maltol; Butanoic acid, 3-methyl-; Pyrazine<2,3,5-trimethyl->; Acetoin; Butanoic acid, 2-butoxy-1-methyl-2-oxoethylester; Pyridine<2-acetyle->; 3-Methylbutyraldehyde; Acetyl Propionyl; Butyraldehyde; Butyric Acid) and counted them as individual secret ingredients?

 

[Strontium]

Yes, you should be concerned, everyone who interacts with you should be concerned.
Not about the secret ingredients though but concerned nonetheless.

 

[RichJB]

I think that only regulation will answer that question for you, @Warlock. And even then, maybe not. Milk products are regulated and should not have melamine added. A Chinese milk formula producer got away with it, at least temporarily until their cheating in regulatory testing was uncovered.

In terms of harmful ingredients, logic tells me that a juice manufacturer wouldn't want to draw customers' attention to it. So the mere fact that they tell you there are 18 secret ingredients - when they don't have a regulatory obligation to do so - suggests that they are not hiding anything.

However, that doesn't mean that they (or any other juice manufacturer) aren't putting in nasty stuff. So I'd be equally wary of juices that don't tell you anything about secret ingredients at all. If a manufacturer wants to add some viciously addictive substance, they're not going to give you a heads-up. It is pretty much a trust-based enterprise atm. And will remain so until a third party steps in and analyses juices to verify ingredients on consumers' behalf.

I don't want to cast aspersions on any juice manufacturer, I'm sure they're 99% straight-up guys who just want to give you a quality and relatively harmless product. But it is what it is. The world can't run on trust anymore.

 

[Andre]

Lol, probably different forms of sweetener!

 

[Raindance]

Yes, you should be concerned, everyone who interacts with you should be concerned.
Not about the secret ingredients though but concerned nonetheless.

Classic! No offence @Warlock, but so well said i just had to respond!

 

[NewOobY]

what-if the vendor merely states that it is a strawberry and cream juice, but to make it he uses 5 different strawberry flavours, 10 different creams and 3 different sweeteners. That's how I'd see it - I don't think that the juice maker would refer to the actual chemical makeup of the juices or of the chemical makeup of the flavours used. I could be wrong, who knows? But my FOMO is killing me, I'd want to try it just for "meh" sake.