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If we replace 10% of food with sawdust and people keep buying it, that proves that consumers don't actually want to pay for the real thing and the company that

If we replace 10% of food with sawdust and people keep buying it, that proves that consumers don't actually want to pay for the real thing and the company that sells it them is doing them a favor.

crazygringo 4y ago
Yes it would, if that happened. On the other hand, if consumers see that sawdust is one of the top four ingredients in the ingredients list, nobody's going to buy it. So I don't know what your point is, because your hypothetical would never happen. Whereas phasing olive slices out of salads is something that's happened. Or replacing fancy glossy plastic clamshell packaging with cheaper generic recyclable cardboard packaging when buying things online.
- AlexandrB 4y ago
  > On the other hand, if consumers see that sawdust is one of the top four ingredients in the ingredients list, nobody's going to buy it. Only if someone actually notices and raises enough of a stink to get other people to notice. This can take a surprisingly long time.
- heavyset_go 4y ago
  My comment is mostly a reference to this video[1]. Replace 'sawdust' with 'cheapest sugar available' and that is something happens all of the time, and is arguably worse, because sawdust doesn't cause addiction, diabetes, heart disease or obesity. Although a joke, sawdust is listed as 'cellulose' in food ingredients, and it's commonly used in food[2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKDal51f5LU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKDal51f5LU [2] https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/07/10/329767647/from-mcdonalds-to-organic-valley-youre-probably-eating-wood-pulp https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/07/10/329767647/fr...
  - crazygringo 4y ago
    You're factually incorrect. Sawdust is not cellulose, and sawdust is not used in food. Cellulose is a purified extract from wood, just like sugar is a purified extract from sugar beets. And shredded/crumbled cheese have long used cellulose for its anti-caking properties. It's not a scam, it's so your cheese doesn't clump.

If we replace 10% of food with sawdust and people keep buying it, that proves that consumers don't actually want to pay for the real thing and the company that sells it them is doing them a favor.

crazygringo 4y ago

Yes it would, if that happened. On the other hand, if consumers see that sawdust is one of the top four ingredients in the ingredients list, nobody's going to buy it. So I don't know what your point is, because your hypothetical would never happen. Whereas phasing olive slices out of salads is something that's happened. Or replacing fancy glossy plastic clamshell packaging with cheaper generic recyclable cardboard packaging when buying things online.

AlexandrB 4y ago
> On the other hand, if consumers see that sawdust is one of the top four ingredients in the ingredients list, nobody's going to buy it. Only if someone actually notices and raises enough of a stink to get other people to notice. This can take a surprisingly long time.
heavyset_go 4y ago
My comment is mostly a reference to this video[1]. Replace 'sawdust' with 'cheapest sugar available' and that is something happens all of the time, and is arguably worse, because sawdust doesn't cause addiction, diabetes, heart disease or obesity. Although a joke, sawdust is listed as 'cellulose' in food ingredients, and it's commonly used in food[2]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKDal51f5LU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKDal51f5LU [2] https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/07/10/329767647/from-mcdonalds-to-organic-valley-youre-probably-eating-wood-pulp https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/07/10/329767647/fr...
- crazygringo 4y ago
  You're factually incorrect. Sawdust is not cellulose, and sawdust is not used in food. Cellulose is a purified extract from wood, just like sugar is a purified extract from sugar beets. And shredded/crumbled cheese have long used cellulose for its anti-caking properties. It's not a scam, it's so your cheese doesn't clump.