Let’s Clear Up the Confusion About Processed Food and Health

Public health and food safety are two critical pillars of the food supply chain. Nearly a century ago, in the Great Lakes, Appalachian, and Northwestern regions of the United States known as the “goiter belt,” between 30% and 60% of the population presented maladies associated with iodine deficiency (Leung, Braverman, and Pearce 2012). The voluntary fortification of table salt with 100 ppm of iodine significantly reduced the prevalence of goiter. Despite this action within the United…