!!! I HAVE ISSUES...!!!

Vanilla!What's not to love about that flavor?
Give me a minute & I'll tell you.Several years ago I stopped using this product...

...not because I fell out of love with that flavor_but I was going more natural instead of "IMITATION"...spelled out right there on the product! Now just in case you don't know what imitation means_according to Webster_something that is made or produced as a copy! Okay?...check! So,I started using these very expensive products or real Vanilla Beans which are a fortune!

..& I am so glad I did!
http://www.nielsenmassey.com/consumer/index.php 

Guess where the "IMITATION" product comes from....are you ready?....okay,hold on tight,as you will be surprised,disgusted & amazed at the person/persons that test for this 'stuff"daily as a job choice & bring forth this "stuff' to your corner grocery store or online shopping center! It comes from this lovely creature...

!!!The Beaver (Genus Castor)_ primarily a nocturnal,large,semi-aquatic RODENT. Castoreum is a liquid found in Castor Sacs near the beaver's Anus!!!  In the good ole US of A it is considered a GRAS( generally recognized as SAFE) food additive by the FDA_AND,is often referenced simply as a "NATURAL FLAVORING"used in food and beverages as a substitute for vanilla flavor_and is less commonly used as a part of raspberry or strawberry flavoring_but still used!  

YOUR CHOICES......

Made in the Lab_Synthetic Vanillin_ instead of natural vanilla extract,vanillin is now more often used as a flavoring agent in foods, beverages, and pharmaceuticals.Chemically identical to real vanilla, artificial vanilla can be made from clove oil, pine bark, coal tar, bran, even cow dung. Until fairly recently, the chemical lignin, derived from wood pulp, was the most common way of synthesizing vanillin.

OR.....BBIV~Beaver Butt Imitation Vanilla~

Dried perineal glands of beaver = artificial vanilla ,strawberry &
raspberry flavoring. 
Castoreum comes from a beaver’s castor sacs, located between the pelvis and base of the tail. Due to its proximity to the anal glands, the slimy brown substance is often mixed with gland secretions and urine. “I lift up the animal’s tail,” Joanne Crawford, a wildlife ecologist at Southern Illinois University told National Geographic. “I’m like, ‘Get down there, and stick your nose near its bum.’” “People think I’m nuts,” she added. “I tell them, ‘Oh, but it’s beavers; it smells really good.’” Beavers use the brown slime, often compared to a thinner version of molasses, to mark their territory. The musky, vanilla scent is attributed to a beaver’s diet of bark and leaves. Manufacture have been using castoreum as an additive in foods and perfumes for at least 80 years, according to a 2007 study in the International Journal of Toxicology. But getting a beaver to emit castoreum is not easy. Foodies are willing to “milk” the animals in order to get their hands on the gooey substance. “You can milk the anal glands so you can extract the fluid,” Crawford said. “You can squirt [castoreum] out. It’s pretty gross.” Only 292-pounds per year is collected because the milking method is unpleasant for all parties involved. And the worst part? The FDA-approved castoreum is not required to be listed as an ingredient on food items. Manufacturers may list “natural flavoring” instead. Perhaps a bit too natural for the Kid! 
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/01/beaver-butts-emit-goo-used-for-vanilla-flavoring/

 OR...."THE REAL DEAL"

Vanilla is a flavor derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla.Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican  people cultivated the vine of the vanilla orchid, called tlilxochitl  by the Aztecs, and Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes is credited with introducing both vanilla and chocolate to Europe in the 1520s. 

               Vanilla Pods with all that "natural" goodness! 
FYI:

• Bourbon vanilla or Bourbon-Madagascar vanilla, produced from V. planifolia plants introduced from the Americas, is the term used for vanilla from Indian Ocean islands such as Madagascar, the Comoros,and Reunion formerly the Île Bourbon. It is also used to describe the distinctive vanilla flavor derived from V. planifolia grown successfully in tropical countries such as India.
• Mexican vanilla, made from the native V. planifolia, is produced in much less quantity and marketed as the vanilla from the land of its origin. Vanilla sold in tourist markets around Mexico is sometimes not actual vanilla extract but is mixed with an extract of the tonka bean,which contains coumarin.Tonka bean extract smells and tastes like vanilla, but coumarin has been shown to cause liver damage in lab animals and is banned in food in the US by the FDA since 1954.
• Tahitian vanilla is the name for vanilla from French Polynesia made with the V. tahitiensis strain. Genetic analysis shows this species is possibly a cultivar from a hybrid-cross of V. planifolia and V. odorata. 
• West Indian vanilla is made from the V. pompona strain grown in the Caribbean and Central and South America.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla    

 Okay,so this is why I have "Trust Issues".
BEWARE of Labels that read_"natural flavoring,imitation,artificial,Ethyl Vanillin, etc. Or when food looks like this...

There's other's like human hair used as flavor enhancer in bagels,artificially-dyed food made from coal tar,anti-freeze in Salad Dressing listed as propylene glycol,biodiesel additive listed as TBHQ in chicken nuggets, sand listed as silicon 
dioxide(to prevent clumping) in salts,soups,etc.,jet fuel additive listed as BHT in cereal to keep it fresh longer... 

AND.....
 http://sagebookwhisperer.blogspot.com/2013/06/ill-have-order-of-carbon-monoxide-wmy.html

..BVO (brominated vegetable oil)*aka* FLAME
RETARDANT....found in all citrus-flavored drinks_of which I discussed my health issues when I was addicted to Mountain Dew.

Time spent looking up a beaver's behind..equals imitation vanilla. Time spent on cures for illness causes by junk in our food equals...Healthcare Crisis! I smell a Beaver Revolution..