Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.
Labels, Marketing, Nutrition knowledge
Options
kikih64
Posts: 349 Member
in Debate Club
So I went grocery shopping today and you know what I found out? Raw white potatoes are gluten-free! Who knew?
Seriously though, I can see putting the gluten-free label on things like sauces or soups,etc, but I think that anyone that knows they should be avoiding gluten would know that fresh vegetables are safe.
I've also noticed a lot of "Whole 30 approved" labels too. Having done a Whole30 and having friends who've done it, I know we wouldn't trust that. We'd read the label ourselves.
So not a debate really, but how much value do you put on these marketing tactics when choosing your food? Have you seen other similar labels out there?
Seriously though, I can see putting the gluten-free label on things like sauces or soups,etc, but I think that anyone that knows they should be avoiding gluten would know that fresh vegetables are safe.
I've also noticed a lot of "Whole 30 approved" labels too. Having done a Whole30 and having friends who've done it, I know we wouldn't trust that. We'd read the label ourselves.
So not a debate really, but how much value do you put on these marketing tactics when choosing your food? Have you seen other similar labels out there?
0
Replies
-
Zero. Zilch. Nada. They're a reason not to buy those products.
That said, years ago, I was pleased to find out that my OJ was fat-free.2 -
Other than the standardized nutrition information and the ingredients I do not pay attention to other stuff on labels which tends to be marketing fluff.2
-
The only thing I look for on packaging is calories per serving, (grams). Don't pay attention to anything else.1
-
I sort of just eat everything and don't bother looking at labels until I get home. Even then I only care about serving size, calories, and macros.2
-
The only one I bother acknowledging is No Salt Added. To me, everything else, other than the nutrition label, are just pointless wastes of ink.1
-
I have my *kitten* goggles on when I shop. Sometimes I have to choose an item with a cringeworthy blurb and it sucks, but it can still be a good product.1
-
I do chuckle at bags of peanuts having "may contain nuts" or something like wholewheat bread with "may contain wheat". Like no *kitten* Sherlock. I mean, if you're stupid enough to not realise you shouldn't eat peanuts with a peanut allergy then, well, natural selection.........
Personally I don't pay any attention at all. I'll check calories on things I buy rarely/never before to decide if that's what I want to use my calories on but otherwise, everything is fair game!4 -
VintageFeline wrote: »I do chuckle at bags of peanuts having "may contain nuts" or something like wholewheat bread with "may contain wheat". Like no *kitten* Sherlock. I mean, if you're stupid enough to not realise you shouldn't eat peanuts with a peanut allergy then, well, natural selection.........
Personally I don't pay any attention at all. I'll check calories on things I buy rarely/never before to decide if that's what I want to use my calories on but otherwise, everything is fair game!
My favorite one is the milk with the label: "contains lactose"... That one cracks me up nearly every time (someone who's lactose intolerant will hopefully know that regular milk is shock full of the stuff...)
I tend to only check the nutrition facts. Then again, I tend to always buy the same things and avoid any of the foods with the pretty stickers (those tend to be far more expansive the the ones hidden all the way at the bottom of the shelf...)1 -
VintageFeline wrote: »I do chuckle at bags of peanuts having "may contain nuts" or something like wholewheat bread with "may contain wheat". Like no *kitten* Sherlock. I mean, if you're stupid enough to not realise you shouldn't eat peanuts with a peanut allergy then, well, natural selection.........
Personally I don't pay any attention at all. I'll check calories on things I buy rarely/never before to decide if that's what I want to use my calories on but otherwise, everything is fair game!
I laugh at that type of stuff, then realize it's there because someone who was allergic/sensitive ate it and demanded the company put a warning label on it.
8 -
This is the danger of the check box mentality and people lacking any sort of common sense.
I run regulatory compliance for a company and the most common questions we get are related to allergen content. The number one question asked in the last quarter (these are from medical professionals with a combined 18 years of education):
Q: Does your IV sodium chloride contain gluten?
A: No - salt and water do not contain gluten.6 -
Wow. Just. Wow.0
-
VintageFeline wrote: »I do chuckle at bags of peanuts having "may contain nuts" or something like wholewheat bread with "may contain wheat". Like no *kitten* Sherlock. I mean, if you're stupid enough to not realise you shouldn't eat peanuts with a peanut allergy then, well, natural selection.........
Personally I don't pay any attention at all. I'll check calories on things I buy rarely/never before to decide if that's what I want to use my calories on but otherwise, everything is fair game!
Except peanuts aren't nuts at all. Damned naming weirdness; kinda like how blackberries, raspberries and strawberries aren't berries.0 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »I do chuckle at bags of peanuts having "may contain nuts" or something like wholewheat bread with "may contain wheat". Like no *kitten* Sherlock. I mean, if you're stupid enough to not realise you shouldn't eat peanuts with a peanut allergy then, well, natural selection.........
Personally I don't pay any attention at all. I'll check calories on things I buy rarely/never before to decide if that's what I want to use my calories on but otherwise, everything is fair game!
Except peanuts aren't nuts at all. Damned naming weirdness; kinda like how blackberries, raspberries and strawberries aren't berries.
And tomatoes aren't vegetables.0 -
Celiac here chiming in on the sometimes silly, sometimes helpful "gluten free" thing.
Gluten shows up in the oddest places. There used to be paper plates that had gluten in the coating on them, and if you weren't in the know, you needed to worry about them.
People like me who were diagnosed back in the dark ages and learned to be afraid of things like licking envelopes for fear of gluten (yes, this was a problem) are pretty paranoid about it.
This doesn't even get into the issue of items produced on shared equipment.
You might think I'd be able to safely pick up a bag of lentils and toss it into my grocery cart, but ... NOPE. Some are processed with wheat and might be contaminated and I need to be careful. Same with any beans.
So yeah, I appreciate gluten free labels on items that are ... well, DUH! of course this is gluten free!... to the rest of you.
To someone like me, the grocery store is a minefield. I used to have to go armed with a list of safe products that was constantly changing and now it's a lot easier. I still need to read labels like a hawk, but this whole "gluten free" trend isn't quite as silly as it seems on the face of it.
Now, if the rest of you want to laugh at the bag of flour in my pantry that is labeled "vegan" and "lactose free"? Have at it. I'm still scratching my head over that one.9 -
Vegetable is a purely culinary term (except in uncommon, mostly deprecated use to refer to something from any plant, e.g. "vegetable matter"), so being a botanical fruit does not mean it cannot be a vegetable. Unlike fruit, nut, or berry, it does not have a culinary and botanical definition.VintageFeline wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »I do chuckle at bags of peanuts having "may contain nuts" or something like wholewheat bread with "may contain wheat". Like no *kitten* Sherlock. I mean, if you're stupid enough to not realise you shouldn't eat peanuts with a peanut allergy then, well, natural selection.........
Personally I don't pay any attention at all. I'll check calories on things I buy rarely/never before to decide if that's what I want to use my calories on but otherwise, everything is fair game!
Except peanuts aren't nuts at all. Damned naming weirdness; kinda like how blackberries, raspberries and strawberries aren't berries.
And tomatoes aren't vegetables.1 -
Animal products show up in unexpected places as additives or used in the processing, like bone char used in the processing of white sugar, so I can get why that may be a thing.GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Now, if the rest of you want to laugh at the bag of flour in my pantry that is labeled "vegan" and "lactose free"? Have at it. I'm still scratching my head over that one.1 -
I once found a bottle of dairy milk bearing the warning, "may contain milk".
Really? Well, I never...
The packaging has since been changed to, "contains milk", but the memory keeps me warm on cold nights.
I would think they're worried about cross-contamination in processing from other pharmaceutical products made by the same manufacturer, and the solution not being pure salt and water?This is the danger of the check box mentality and people lacking any sort of common sense.
I run regulatory compliance for a company and the most common questions we get are related to allergen content. The number one question asked in the last quarter (these are from medical professionals with a combined 18 years of education):
Q: Does your IV sodium chloride contain gluten?
A: No - salt and water do not contain gluten.
1 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Celiac here chiming in on the sometimes silly, sometimes helpful "gluten free" thing.
Gluten shows up in the oddest places. There used to be paper plates that had gluten in the coating on them, and if you weren't in the know, you needed to worry about them.
People like me who were diagnosed back in the dark ages and learned to be afraid of things like licking envelopes for fear of gluten (yes, this was a problem) are pretty paranoid about it.
This doesn't even get into the issue of items produced on shared equipment.
You might think I'd be able to safely pick up a bag of lentils and toss it into my grocery cart, but ... NOPE. Some are processed with wheat and might be contaminated and I need to be careful. Same with any beans.
So yeah, I appreciate gluten free labels on items that are ... well, DUH! of course this is gluten free!... to the rest of you.
To someone like me, the grocery store is a minefield. I used to have to go armed with a list of safe products that was constantly changing and now it's a lot easier. I still need to read labels like a hawk, but this whole "gluten free" trend isn't quite as silly as it seems on the face of it.
Now, if the rest of you want to laugh at the bag of flour in my pantry that is labeled "vegan" and "lactose free"? Have at it. I'm still scratching my head over that one.
This I don't think is silly because those are the not obvious things. Like eateries that claim to serve gluten free but use the same equipment as the regular menu to make it, not understanding that that's not good enough due to cross contamination.
It's the "this is peanuts!" thing on peanuts et al I find silly.1 -
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.6K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 913 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions