I often hear, “You should never cheap out on a good office chair, shoes, underpants, backpack etc…” but what are some items that you would feel OK to cheap out on?
This can by anything from items such as: expensive clothing brands to general groceries.
Be careful with cheap spices, some of them (like turmeric) can be laced with lead and other nasty stuff to make them more attractive.
How does lead make them more attractive? The weight?
It makes them sexy. Stupid, sexy lead-additives.
Color.
Nestlé Maggi also adds lead to its tastemaker spice mix. No idea if for taste or to kill people faster, because I have not eaten Maggi in about 12-13 years. Stopped as soon as I learnt about it in childhood.
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I buy them exclusively so I slowly become leader.
I’d hope this isn’t a concern in any country with even a small account of regulation on what you’re allowed to sell or on whether you’re allowed to murder people
Well, most of these spices are imported (in western countries), and it’s hard to tell how often they’re tested. There are some tests you can do at home (for example, turmeric should apparently not dissolve in water, so if you drop a spoonful in a glass and look at it after 20min, the water should still be relatively clear, or it means there are other additives).
Authentic Asian/Indian/Chinese/Korean ones do not do it. This is a Western capitalist thing, because Nestlé is well known to add lead in Maggi’s tastemaker. Worst form of adulteration I have seen in Indian grocery sellers is adding tiny stones to bags of lentils or beans to increase weight, and they can be easily removed and is also becoming uncommon with time.
Uhh, yes they do. This does not take much googling to find out. Capitalist companies produce spices in the east too.
I live in India, and have not seen lead adulteration yet, outside of Nestlé’s (USA) Maggi tastemaker.