Share - some of the crazy, underhanded, or bizarre food labeling and packaging you've come across
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shaumom
Posts: 1,003 Member
Just thought this could be fun, but also probably educational in knowing what to look out for when we're buying things!
1. A few years back, I came across this. A bag of pretzels, and a bag of pretzels from the same brand that was 'lite' pretzels. Except the calories per serving is the same, all the nutrient % are the same, ingredients are the same. I finally figured out the difference. The 'lite' pretzels contained fewer pretzels...and charged you more money for it.
2. Mustard- I've seen mustards where the same brand has a dijon mustard, and a 'country dijon' mustard. The country dijon has mustard seeds that are only partially ground up, while the regular dijon had them completely ground up. That's the only difference I could see, aside from the fact that the 'country' dijon had a smaller package but, again, charged more money for it.
3. A new take on an old ingredient to look out for: fructose or fructose syrup. Regular High fructose corn syrup is defined as something like between 42%-55% percent fructose. Right now, however, high fructose corn syrup that is 90% fructose is being called fructose or fructose syrup. companies can (and have, now) use it and still claim 'no high fructose corn syrup.' (one article on it is here: http://naturalsociety.com/watch-corporations-renamed-high-fructose-corn-syrup/
4. celery extract - celery is high in nitrates, and in celery extract, it's actually the nitrates that are extracted and added. So many 'healthier' bacons can say no added nitrates on the label but use 'celery extract' instead, and it's still adding nitrates. :-P
So what label craziness have you noticed?
1. A few years back, I came across this. A bag of pretzels, and a bag of pretzels from the same brand that was 'lite' pretzels. Except the calories per serving is the same, all the nutrient % are the same, ingredients are the same. I finally figured out the difference. The 'lite' pretzels contained fewer pretzels...and charged you more money for it.
2. Mustard- I've seen mustards where the same brand has a dijon mustard, and a 'country dijon' mustard. The country dijon has mustard seeds that are only partially ground up, while the regular dijon had them completely ground up. That's the only difference I could see, aside from the fact that the 'country' dijon had a smaller package but, again, charged more money for it.
3. A new take on an old ingredient to look out for: fructose or fructose syrup. Regular High fructose corn syrup is defined as something like between 42%-55% percent fructose. Right now, however, high fructose corn syrup that is 90% fructose is being called fructose or fructose syrup. companies can (and have, now) use it and still claim 'no high fructose corn syrup.' (one article on it is here: http://naturalsociety.com/watch-corporations-renamed-high-fructose-corn-syrup/
4. celery extract - celery is high in nitrates, and in celery extract, it's actually the nitrates that are extracted and added. So many 'healthier' bacons can say no added nitrates on the label but use 'celery extract' instead, and it's still adding nitrates. :-P
So what label craziness have you noticed?
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My 255 gram pizza [or so, that's what the packaging said] was actually 455 grams and instead of having 520 cals, it had over 900!! I learned to weigh everything after that.9
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I once saw a bag of almonds labeled fat free.35
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In Norway, bags of nuts often have a warning on the label: "May contain nuts".34
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Kraft 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese.
Has 10% wood pulp in it, which is ok, but is it still 100% cheese?12 -
Cheez-its says on the package that they are made with Real cheese! Makes me wonder if they weren't always.5
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Tortillas said serving size 1.5 tortilla, 48 grams. Actual tortillas were about 65 grams. Not even close, haha.5
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Shredded cheese that says "all natural" on the package but ingredients list potato starch...1
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I'm sure the potato starch was added to prevent the cheese from clumping. All shredded cheeses have something like that in them; the only way to avoid it is to shred your own cheese.
And, unfortunately, the word "natural" is meaningless when it's on food packaging.10 -
JanetYellen wrote: »Kraft 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese.
Has 10% wood pulp in it, which is ok, but is it still 100% cheese?
Source? Cause I've been googling and the only thing I can find is a lawsuit involving many brands, one of which (not Kraft) had up to 10% cellulose - which comes from wood pulp.
Kraft is not Parmigiano-Reggiano. You don't need to google to tell there is a difference.4 -
WiseBlueRaven wrote: »I'm sure the potato starch was added to prevent the cheese from clumping. All shredded cheeses have something like that in them; the only way to avoid it is to shred your own cheese.
And, unfortunately, the word "natural" is meaningless when it's on food packaging.
But, potato starch.
Potatoes are natural. What is not natural about their starch?8 -
3dogsrunning wrote: »WiseBlueRaven wrote: »I'm sure the potato starch was added to prevent the cheese from clumping. All shredded cheeses have something like that in them; the only way to avoid it is to shred your own cheese.
And, unfortunately, the word "natural" is meaningless when it's on food packaging.
But, potato starch.
Potatoes are natural. What is not natural about their starch?
Oh yes, I completely agree with you. I was only pointing out that seeing the word "natural" on a food product shouldn't raise any expectations.0 -
WiseBlueRaven wrote: »3dogsrunning wrote: »WiseBlueRaven wrote: »I'm sure the potato starch was added to prevent the cheese from clumping. All shredded cheeses have something like that in them; the only way to avoid it is to shred your own cheese.
And, unfortunately, the word "natural" is meaningless when it's on food packaging.
But, potato starch.
Potatoes are natural. What is not natural about their starch?
Oh yes, I completely agree with you. I was only pointing out that seeing the word "natural" on a food product shouldn't raise any expectations.
Ah. Exactly.0 -
I was surprised by the packets of "low sodium" soy sauce... it had added sugar and corn syrup. I'd rather have the sodium! I can understand if you need a low sodium diet, but otherwise I think I can do without added sugar in my soy sauce.0
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I once had a customer return a product because it had MSG and exchange it for a different brand that also had MSG, but listed under a different name.10
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Bottles of water that have "gluten free" on the label. You would think that most of the intelligent general public already knows that water doesn't contain gluten.22
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heatherhammy wrote: »I was surprised by the packets of "low sodium" soy sauce... it had added sugar and corn syrup. I'd rather have the sodium! I can understand if you need a low sodium diet, but otherwise I think I can do without added sugar in my soy sauce.
Low sodium soy sauce should say LOWER sodium soy sauce....it's still packed with it4 -
Bottles of water that have "gluten free" on the label. You would think that most of the intelligent general public already knows that water doesn't contain gluten.
Oh, I actually know where this one comes from! It's basically because now, you can actually get bottled water that is not gluten free, potentially. First, because many products are often made on the same processing equipment at different times (like, say, process a flavored water on one day, a juice on another day (both of which can have gluten as an ingredient, as barley is often a component of 'natural flavorings'), and plain water on another day).
Second, because processing machinery is cleaned, but regular cleaning protocols don't eliminate all the proteins from them and people have had allergic reactions to foods processed on the same equipment. There are stricter cleaning protocols for foods that wish to be more allergen friendly or gluten free.
So while most bottled water is perfectly fine, you can actually have some that can NOT be gluten free due to processing.
To date, I've seen oils that were not gluten free due to contamination on the same line from cold-pressed wheat germ oil, and a salt that was not gluten free due to contamination on the same line from a seasoned salt that contained a gluten-based flavoring.
For folks like celiacs, who have to be super careful, crazy stuff like this can actually be a problem. :-P18 -
I've always thought that European labels looked kind of crazy. They get so specific!
Also, on the HFCS topic, I've seen customers come into our store (local health food/supplement shop) shunning HFCS and damming it to hellfire and brimstone, and then immediately thereafter purchase a bag of fructose crystals from one of our bulk suppliers of "health" foods. Me and the other girl at the counter were going, "Wait, what?"
Also, almonds. I don't know why companies label unroasted almonds grown in the USA as "raw". They're not. They're all pasteurized, using one method or another. Unless you're buying Silician or Marcona almonds or something (way more delicious than USA almonds, by the way,) they're not raw.6 -
I saw a packet of chips that had 32 servings in them
They went back on the shelf.
Another was the "Skinny" icecream had more calories per 100g than similar non-skinny icecreams!8
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