It’s no doubt happened to you.
You head off to a movie, Church, or an evening show of some kind and make your way to your seat.  As you settle in, you quickly notice that a person sitting nearby, or worse, right next to you is reeking of cologne, perfume, or some other strong-smelling personal care product.
As much as you want to get away from this overpowering smell, you realize with dismay that you have nowhere to go. All the other seats are filled. Besides, it would be so rude to move!
Your hopes for an enjoyable event are dashed as the synthetic smells you are forced to inhale start to give you a nasty headache or worse, breathing problems.
Even if someone does not have an allergic reaction to synthetic aromas, the assault on one’s nostrils is still avoided by many who seek to limit chemical exposures of all kinds. I myself avoid going near Subway or the bakery of a Walmart, for example, as the fake food aromas wafting forth from the chemical infused bread, cakes and cookies that are baking are absolutely nauseating.
Chemical sensitivity to fragrances used by retailers is fairly common.
Chemical Fragrances to be Used in Food Packaging
Avoiding synthetic smells is about to get a whole lot trickier.
More chemical smells are on the way harnessed via an “invisible technology” which food and beverage companies hope will tantalize your nostrils as you shop, enticing you to buy, buy, BUY!
Steven Landau, Chief Technological Officer for ScentSational Technologies said:
“… the sense of smell has been the most neglected sense in brand marketing strategies. Of the five senses, smell is the most powerful in driving consumer preference, conjuring up memories and creating purchase intent. As a result, our customers [food and beverage companies] have been asking for a low cost technology to deliver aroma from the shelf.”
The fake food aromas are delivered to the potential consumer whenever a product is handled through a coating that adheres to the product packaging.
This patent-pending technology called “Encapscent” is applied as a microencapsulated coating (MEC) to the outside of the food or drug packaging. The custom flavored, FDA approved “food grade” coatings are protected by microscopic cells that are ruptured when the product is touched or picked up.  The scent can be released over and over again as millions of these cells are applied to each and every package.
Mr. Landau insists the coating is in compliance with food packaging regulations and is safe for use with beverage, food and pharmaceutical packaging as it does not come into contact with the food or drug itself.
What about a child riding in a grocery cart who picks up a box of cookies, sniffs the box and then sucks his thumb?
Bet that hasn’t been tested, has it? No worries. By the time the general public figures out the likely health hazards from these deliciously aromatic yet completely synthetic coatings, all the people involved in the development of this “invisible technology” will most likely be long gone and relaxing in Dubai, courtesy of a very lucrative and ScentSational IPO.
So now our children are to be guinea pigs not only for the artificial ingredients inside the package but also the artificial flavors engineered for release into the air and no doubt onto your hands via the outside of the package?
It seems that taking your child shopping will be getting a whole lot more dangerous. Looks like it won’t just be the folks in the deli section who are wearing latex gloves.
And, as the lady in the picture is demonstrating, a surgical mask would probably be a good idea too.
Sources
ScentSational packaging coating delivers food or drink aroma
Oh that’s terrible – what in the world is the food industry coming to? I know what you mean about walking into a walmart though – the smell is overpowering and disgusting. The chemical industry is just going way overboard.
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Sarah, have you done any research or have you done a post about the hazards of room air fresheners? Someone I know thinks her autoimmune disease was triggered by plug-in devices used by her roommates.
Someone earlier referred to t paper, which has “saved” my life because I’m allergic to sanitary napkins. It took me awhile to figure out what the problem was, but life is very terrible if I use them at all. I had been thinking of starting to use cloth like they used to do, but that has an ick factor in it. I was lucky to find the Natracare brand that I can use, if I cover them them with t paper (all the rest the t paper does not help). I don’t know what they put in the things, but even the Natracare ones bother me if I use them more than a several days. They are tons better though!!
@Krista good point. There are many things food manufacturers haven’t considered with this invasive technology and it will likely backfire by driving consumers even further away from processed foods and the supermarket and more to locally based suppliers which is all good.
great, now as a pregnant woman with very bad nausea/vomiting, I won’t be able to go grocery shopping without a puke baggie next to the shopping cart!
Good point, this would have made me throw up during pregnancy too!
I visited Trader Joe’s once and after walking around the store and reading all of the labels with left with very little. Not worth our time to every go again. Soy and canola oil were prevalent (we haven’t eaten them for over 15 years) and other ingredients too. We do shop whole foods but most of our food comes direct from the farmer (summer and winter CSAs, farmers markets, our dairy farmer also produces eggs, honey and some vegetables and we buy our meat direct from several farmers) and we use bulk ordering for beans, grains, etc. and some online suppliers for nuts, edible seeds, dried fruit and a few “super fruit” freeze dried powders to add to our smoothies and bowls of homemade yogurt. We go to kroger maybe once a month, often not, for things like canning jars but not usually for food. Target 1 or 2 times a month for a few things – again, not usually food. And that is about it! Whole Foods is our main source of store bought things. We make almost everything ourselves and so we just buy basic ingredients. No factory food. I don’t really want to eat this way but no one makes food that we want to eat!
Hi! I was going to pop you a quick email but couldn’t find it anywhere posted here. Unrelated to this post, but I don’t think your archive feature is working. I was wanting to start going through your archived posts chronologically, but when I click on month/year it’ll just take me to the homepage. Hope it isn’t just my computer!
I can’t imagine how awful this may be; I currently can’t even walk through the cleaning section aisles at my grocery store or Target without feeling really dizzy. I just try to hold my breath, rush in and grab the rubber gloves I use for cleaning and rush out before I have to take another breath. And believe me, as someone with Asthma, that is not easy!
Also, whenever I am in stores like that I also wonder about all the products that are off-gassing chemical all over the entire store, that I am not immediately aware of, but I know make me often feel unwell after shopping
I can’t imagine being assaulted by chemicals in the food section, too. Yuck! Fortunately, I just shop “the outer edges” of the store, so maybe it won’t be so bad…): (Wishful thinking…)
take care,
Joyce
As if the formaldehyde and the textile dyes etc. in clothing weren’t bad enough, now they’re going to be scenting things on purpose? How can this be good? I wonder which hairbrained advertising guru came up with this nonsensical idea. I guess we’ll just have to watch the Fortune 500 lists, huh?
I think certain hair care products are the worst for me in the hold-my-nose department. There is some ingredient, mostly in hair sprays and mousses and stuff, that make me absolutely gag. I smell it a lot on old/older women, rarely on men. I think also some soaps have a weird smell but again, I smell it mostly on older women, so I call it old lady smell. 😉 Some rose scented things are pretty gross, too.