• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

One Vibrant Mama

  • Home
  • Blog
  • SHOP
    • Real Food Done-For-You Menus
    • Back to Basics
    • Real Food Storage
  • Recipe Index
  • New? Start Here!
    • What are Traditional Foods?
    • Article Index
    • Feeding Children
    • Snacks and Lunches
  • About
    • Meet KerryAnn
    • Contact KerryAnn
    • Disclaimer
    • Privacy Notice
    • Terms and Conditions
You are here: Home / Food Matters / Friday Food Fight / Friday Food Fight: Is There Formaldehyde in Maple Syrup?

Friday Food Fight: Is There Formaldehyde in Maple Syrup?

March 15, 2013 by KerryAnn 2 Comments

Friday Food Fight:  Is There Formaldehyde in Maple Syrup?

My posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, you won't pay more but we will receive a small commission. That helps keep the blog up and the free recipes coming. Thanks! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

My posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, you won't pay more but we will receive a small commission. That helps keep the blog up and the free recipes coming. Thanks!

 

It’s Friday, so its time for another food fight! Every Friday we look at an ingredient, a decision or a process within the real foods sphere. It might be as simple as why you should choose sea salt over iodized salt. It might be more complex, such as what soaking is, how to soak and why you’d want to do it. Grass-fed vs grain-fed. Pastured vs cage-free eggs. What if I can’t afford the best, what’s the next best alternative? All of those decisions that are out in the real food world that are enough to make your head swirl. We’ll take it one bite at a time. Information is always easier to digest when it’s in small pieces.

We’ll start with the easier and move to the complex. As always, we will do so in a good, better, best format, with an eye on the budget. Some weeks, it will be a blog post, other weeks a video.

In researching the Friday Food Fight series, I kept coming across the statement that non-organic maple syrup could contain formaldehyde. I’ve also had some readers ask me for my opinion on it, as organic maple syrup doesn’t fit into their budgets. I wanted to get to the bottom of it and find out if non-organic maple syrup really was a threat of formaldehyde exposure.

What is Formaldehyde?

Most people know that formaldehyde is used in liquid form to embalm bodies. But formaldehyde in building supplies came to attention on the national scene in 2007 when high levels of it were found in the temporary housing units that FEMA had set up for Hurricane Katrina victims, causing illness.  Formaldehyde exposure through inhalation can cause dizziness, mucus membrane irritation including runny nose, dry mouth, sore throat, eye infections, bronchitis and other associated mucus membrane issues. Formaldehyde can cause inflammatory responses in the respiratory system including asthma attacks. It can also cause headaches, fatigue and disturbed sleep. Long-term exposure is known to cause cancer.

Formaldehyde can form as a result of many things and is a major component of smog. It’s in cigarette smoke and can be in your home if you use certain wood-burning stoves. If you breathe, it’s kinda hard to avoid all traces of formaldehyde.  Formaldehyde is given off by build materials used to make walls, cabinets, furniture and other household goods according to the CDC. Formaldehyde elimination is a major component of some green building programs.

 

Why is it Used in Maple Syrup Production?

Paraformaldehyde (PFA) pellets or tablets were sometimes inserted into the tap to keep the syrup from clotting and the tree from healing, thus allowing more syrup to be gathered with less labor before the end of the season. A tap drilled into a tree will heal and stop producing sap after 4-6 weeks.  These pellets enable a producer to get 20-25% more sap from each tree, temporarily dropping their production costs and upping their profit. Research also shows that the pellets can shorten the lifespan of the trees, which can somewhat negate the benefits the producer received.

 

Banned in the US

Formaldehyde was banned in maple syrup by the EPA removing paraformaldehyde as an approved substance with which to treat maple trees in the US in 1982. Unfortunately, I was not able to track down an online copy of the regulation that removed it from the approved list. However, according to the producers I discussed it with, it’s one of the things maple syrup is regularly tested for in the US and in Canada. There was a legal limit of 2 parts per million of formaldehyde in the finished maple syrup when the pellets were in use.

It has also been illegal in Canada (see page 9) since 1991. So if you’re purchasing your syrup from Canada, it shouldn’t be a concern. PFA tablets haven’t been produced since 1993 as their manufacture is banned by the EPA.

So if you were concerned about formaldehyde in conventional maple syrup, I don’t believe you have any worries. It appears as though the sites that state their products are formaldehyde free are either playing on consumer ignorance on the issue, as all maple syrup should be formaldehyde free, are outdated, or are trying to mislead the consumer into purchasing organic.  While I wholeheartedly agree that organic is always the best choice for everyone, I do understand that some families won’t have the budget that can handle it (my family included) and it is best to give the straight facts and allow the family to decide which is best for them.

 

Conventional maple syrup isn’t completely off the hook, however.  Next Friday, we’ll look at another contaminant that does appear in some conventional syrups that you will want to avoid.

 

Related Posts

  • Friday Food Fight: Honey versus Maple Syrup
  • Friday Food Fight
  • Friday Food Fight: Is Organic Important for Maple Syrup?
  • Friday Food Fight: Rapadura versus Sucanat

Filed Under: Friday Food Fight

I'm KerryAnn Foster, a crazy vibrant Jesus Freak with a heart full of hope. I'm not afraid to love on the least of these or get my hands dirty. This blog is my journey from ineffective, uptight, obese wallflower to a woman on fire for God and living the most vibrant, passionate life possible!

I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina with my husband, Jeff, and our two teens. I blog about self-confidence, health and home, homeschooling and living a vibrant, wide-open Jesus-centered lifestyle. I have over seventeen years of real food, natural lifestyle and health experience. We have homeschooled our children since birth and both Jeff and I run home-based businesses. We're crazy, we know it, and we love every second of it!

Read about my journey to health through celiac disease, PCOS, food allergies, obesity, adrenal fatigue and heavy metals.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Suburban Farm Girl says

    March 19, 2013 at 1:58 am

    Good grief! It really makes you wonder how something like that became legal in the first place! I’m glad to hear that we don’t have to worry about embalming fluid being in our syrup. Now if they could get more responsible with the other thousands of food products, we could rest easy. Thank you for taking the time to track this down. It’s a shame that you have to spend your time doing this. It shouldn’t be your job since there are people supposedly paid to do this. *sigh* Thanks again!

    Lynn
    Suburban Farm Girl recently posted..Gluten Free- Grain Free

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Friday Food Fight: Is Organic Important for Maple Syrup? | Cooking Traditional Foods says:
    April 18, 2013 at 5:21 pm

    […] researching our last Friday Food Fight about formaldehyde in maple syrup, I hit upon another issue that greatly concerned me. There’s one major difference between […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Primary Sidebar

One Vibrant Mama Newsletter

Subscribe to the One Vibrant Mama Newsletter to get notifications of new blog posts and emails!

Follow Us on Social Media

Meet KerryAnn

I'm KerryAnn Foster, a crazy vibrant Jesus Freak with a heart full of hope. I'm not afraid to love on the least of these or get my hands dirty. This blog is my journey from ineffective, uptight, obese wallflower to a woman on fire for God and living the most vibrant, passionate life possible!

I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina with my husband, Jeff, and our two teens. I blog about self-confidence, health and home, homeschooling and living a vibrant, wide-open Jesus-centered lifestyle. I have over seventeen years of real food, natural lifestyle and health experience. We have homeschooled our children since birth and both Jeff and I run home-based businesses. We're crazy, we know it, and we love every second of it!

Read about my journey to health through celiac disease, PCOS, food allergies, obesity, adrenal fatigue and heavy metals.

Instagram did not return a 200.

Follow One Vibrant Mama on Instagram!

Recent Posts

  • Homeschool for College Credit
  • Homeschool Class Plans – The Ultimate Guide!
  • Homeschool a Distracted Child, No Matter Their Age!
  • How to Create a Homeschool Syllabus for Your High Schooler
  • Keeping A Homeschool Bullet Journal

Ads




Ads


Ads


Archive

Footer

Disclaimer

We make a good faith effort to keep up-to-date on the allergen content status of products. However, product formulations change frequently. Always check product labels for the most recent ingredient information and call the company if you have any questions as to the gluten content of a product.

Statements on this website have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products and/or information are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. Readers are advised to do their own research and make decisions in partnership with your health care provider. If you are pregnant, nursing, have a medical condition or are taking any medication, please consult your physician. Nothing you read here should be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment.

View Our Disclaimers, Terms and Conditions and our Privacy Policy for more information.

About

The information contained on Intentionally Domestic is meant for educational and informational purposes only. We are neither doctors nor dietitians. We do not dispense advice on curing or treating any health ailment or disease. Please consult your health care provider before following any information on this site.

  • Grain-Free
  • Gluten-Free
  • Casein-Free
  • Egg-Free
  • Nut-Free
  • Soy-Free

Copyright © 2023 · Wellness Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Got it! Maybe Later Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Subscribe to the One Vibrant Mama Newsletter

Introduce yourself and your program
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.