The Convenience Trap

Mar 23 , 2025
By Eden Sahle

---

Over the weekend, I watched a mother I know closely hand her children a bag of chips and packed juice for lunch. She isn’t the type to welcome feedback on her parenting, but I couldn’t stay silent. Before I could say anything, she quickly reassured me that these were organic, healthy choices providing variety. I was alarmed that she genuinely believed highly processed snacks and sugary, artificial juice offered the necessary nutrients for her children.

In today’s fast-paced world, processed and packaged foods have become the norm for many families. Convenience often takes precedence over nutrition and food safety. Well-intentioned parents, believing they are making the best choices, opt for pre-packaged foods over home-cooked meals.

This trend is particularly visible in Addis Ababa, where affluent urban families increasingly turn to imported packaged foods, assuming they are superior to freshly produced alternatives. But the reality is far from reassuring. Packed and processed foods carry risks ranging from contamination and undisclosed additives to a lack of nutritional value; making them an unhealthy choice, especially for children.

Many believe that packaged foods undergo strict quality control and are therefore safer and more nutritious than fresh foods. This assumption has led to a heavy reliance on imported options. Parents spend exorbitant amounts purchasing these products from flight attendants, shops, and travellers, convinced they are cleaner and healthier.

Yet the reality is starkly different. Packed foods often contain preservatives, stabilizers, dyes, and high levels of added sugars or salts that compromise their nutritional value. Unlike fresh produce, which retains its natural vitamins and minerals, processed foods lose essential nutrients during production. Even when manufacturers artificially add vitamins and minerals, they rarely match the benefits of those naturally present in whole foods.

In Ethiopia, food safety concerns extend beyond processing. The country’s Food and Drug Authority has limited oversight, making it difficult to determine contamination levels in locally processed and packaged foods.

In my household, we once relied on processed and packed teff for convenience. But to our shock, we discovered strands of steel and plastic gloves mixed into the flour when we were refining it. Our supposedly pure teff was consistently adulterated with rice, without our knowledge or consent. The experience forced us to buy the grain and have it processed ourselves.

These contaminants pose serious health risks. Metallic particles and plastic residues can cause digestive issues and long-term health complications. Even when not immediately harmful, their presence exposes deeper issues: poor quality control and weak food safety regulations.

The assumption that imported-packed foods are safer than locally packaged is flawed. Even in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates food production, certain levels of contamination are legally allowed. The FDA sets “defect action levels,” which define the maximum levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that do not pose an immediate health hazard.

For instance, the FDA allows up to one rodent hair per hundred grams of peanut butter. Up to sixty insect fragments per hundred grams of chocolate are permitted. A maximum of 45pc mould count in tomato products is allowed before action is taken. Up to twenty maggots in canned mushrooms per hundred grams are allowed. Small amounts of rodent faeces are tolerated in wheat and other grains.

These incredibly unappetizing allowances exist because eliminating all contaminants is highly costly and impractical in large-scale food production. Even in well-regulated nations, packed foods are not free from contamination and health risks.

Another common misconception among urban families is that American-made foods are the gold standard of safety and nutrition. Some go to great lengths to stock their kitchens with U.S. imports, believing they are making a healthier choice.

One of my relatives, for example, filled their luxurious pantry with expensive imported foods for their children. However, when my husband and I introduced them to an app that scans and rates food and cosmetic products based on ingredient safety, their perspective changed overnight. To their shock, many of the items they assumed were “healthy” and “safe” were flagged as hazardous due to high levels of additives, preservatives, carcinogenic dyes, artificial flavours, and chemical contaminants.

Fresh foods always offer a significant advantage over packed and processed alternatives. Unlike packaged foods, fresh ingredients do not undergo extensive processing that strips them of nutrients or introduces harmful chemicals, toxins, and foreign objects.

The appeal of packed foods often lies in convenience. Some families, unaware of the dangers, fall for aggressive marketing tactics, putting themselves and their loved ones at risk. Busy schedules make home-cooked meals seem like a luxury, but the long-term health consequences of processed foods – including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease – far outweigh the short-term ease of preparation.

Raising awareness about food contamination and the dangers of processed foods is crucial. Ethiopian consumers must be informed about the realities of both locally packed and imported foods.

While packed and processed foods are often marketed as safe and nutritious, they carry significant risks. No processed food no matter its origin is entirely free from health concerns. The best approach is to prioritize fresh foods that offer better nutrition and fewer contaminants.

Ethiopians are fortunate to have access to fresh, minimally processed food. Instead of relying on packed foods, families should embrace home cooking and traditional diets. Real food prepared from fresh ingredients wins not just our taste buds but also our precious health.

---

PUBLISHED ON Mar 23, 2025 [ VOL 25 , NO 1299]

---