Share - some of the crazy, underhanded, or bizarre food labeling and packaging you've come across

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  • KiwiAlexP
    KiwiAlexP Posts: 186 Member
    I was buying oil in the supermarket and found they had canola oil for about $1 more than the salad/cooking oil. Checked the ingredients - both were 100% canola oil
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
    on a stall: our products are 100% fat free.
    They were selling candy floss/spun sugar
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    dlkfox wrote: »
    ALL microwave popcorn labeling. I don't care what the unpopped kernel calories are, and I'm not going to measure out by cup. I'm going to eat the whole #^$% bag of popcorn thank you. How many calories per bag would be awesome.

    Yeah, totally. I've basically stopped eating microwave popcorn (it's so easy to just pop my own, and I have more control), but this used to drive me crazy. I am a highly educated person. Why is it so impossible to understand your ridiculous label?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    crazyravr wrote: »
    avocado-halves.jpg?quality=70&strip=all&w=720&h=480&crop=1

    LOL.
  • neldabg
    neldabg Posts: 1,452 Member
    dlkfox wrote: »
    ALL microwave popcorn labeling. I don't care what the unpopped kernel calories are, and I'm not going to measure out by cup. I'm going to eat the whole #^$% bag of popcorn thank you. How many calories per bag would be awesome.

    SERIOUSLY. This is one of the reasons why I stick to Pop Weaver Light Butter Microwave Popcorn for the most part. I found a box at Walmart, and the nutrition facts actually mark 220 calories PER POPPED BAG.
  • lindalee0315
    lindalee0315 Posts: 527 Member
    EmbeeKay wrote: »
    Drives me NUTS (ha) when I see a commercial for Nutella that says it's a great, healthy spread for everyone because it's made from "ground hazelnuts, skin milk, and a hint of cocoa"... When SUGAR is the first listed ingredient and palm oil is the second! That stuff is frosting, people!

    It's delicious frosting....It's crack in a jar....I can't keep it in my house because I will lose all self-control around it. It calls to me and says, "I'm in the cupboard...just eat ONE LITTLE spoonful." Then, I'm suddenly covered in it and trying to lick out the empty jar.
  • Char231023
    Char231023 Posts: 700 Member
    crazyravr wrote: »
    avocado-halves.jpg?quality=70&strip=all&w=720&h=480&crop=1

    This actually make sense to me since once you cut an avocado and exposing the green part makes it start to turn brown. Especially since I usually only eat half an avocado at a time.
  • AmazonMayan
    AmazonMayan Posts: 1,168 Member
    neldabg wrote: »
    dlkfox wrote: »
    ALL microwave popcorn labeling. I don't care what the unpopped kernel calories are, and I'm not going to measure out by cup. I'm going to eat the whole #^$% bag of popcorn thank you. How many calories per bag would be awesome.

    SERIOUSLY. This is one of the reasons why I stick to Pop Weaver Light Butter Microwave Popcorn for the most part. I found a box at Walmart, and the nutrition facts actually mark 220 calories PER POPPED BAG.

    I found some a couple months ago with the per bag calories. It was refreshing. Haven't seen it again since.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Char231023 wrote: »
    crazyravr wrote: »
    avocado-halves.jpg?quality=70&strip=all&w=720&h=480&crop=1

    This actually make sense to me since once you cut an avocado and exposing the green part makes it start to turn brown. Especially since I usually only eat half an avocado at a time.

    And around here it's not uncommon to see $3.99 for an avocado.

    I wouldn't buy it (I try to avoid excess packaging), but I also get it.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited May 2016
    neldabg wrote: »
    Tilapia with only 2 calories. I just knew it was pure BS. Perhaps the company had a printing error since literally every bag had the two calories marked on them. Sure enough, upon double checking with MFP, I saw ranges of 90-100 calories per serving. Can you imagine someone who's trying to lose just a little weight, and not knowing any better, buys this fish in bulk (there was a sale), and seeing their scale move up, not at all, or decreasing slower than usual, and wondering how it is that they're not losing weight optimally despite weighing everything? This is why I pay extra attention and care to food labels.

    Weird -- it's an obvious typo or error of some sort, since the macros add up to the expected 90-something. Wonder how that kind of thing happens.

    I hate tilapia (it's one of the very few fish I don't care for, mostly because I just find it completely blah) so I can't imagine anyone eating enough of it to gain (it's a low cal option in reality) or actually believing the 2 calories (I mean, presumably the protein is a plus, so you'd know there were calories from the protein), but that would be irritating if you did.
  • bscmcse
    bscmcse Posts: 55 Member
    I thought this was a gag gift when I first saw it.

    I know people are trying to lose weight but does it really have to come to THIS?


    whipped-peanut-butter-spread.jpg

    100% GUARANTEED for what exactly? :laugh:

    Don't EVER buy it. Bought some with some calorie free jelly once. Hit the garbage before I could put the lid back on.
  • Nachise
    Nachise Posts: 395 Member
    Trader Joe's has a Coffee Garlic spice rub. Second ingredient is brown sugar. Zero grams of sugar in the nutrient label.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    neldabg wrote: »
    Tilapia with only 2 calories. I just knew it was pure BS. Perhaps the company had a printing error since literally every bag had the two calories marked on them. Sure enough, upon double checking with MFP, I saw ranges of 90-100 calories per serving. Can you imagine someone who's trying to lose just a little weight, and not knowing any better, buys this fish in bulk (there was a sale), and seeing their scale move up, not at all, or decreasing slower than usual, and wondering how it is that they're not losing weight optimally despite weighing everything? This is why I pay extra attention and care to food labels.

    w92n2qvdm06n.jpg

    I bought some shrimp at Walmart once and the package claimed that 85g of shrimp was 45 calories.

    Just no.
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    neldabg wrote: »
    Tilapia with only 2 calories. I just knew it was pure BS. Perhaps the company had a printing error since literally every bag had the two calories marked on them. Sure enough, upon double checking with MFP, I saw ranges of 90-100 calories per serving. Can you imagine someone who's trying to lose just a little weight, and not knowing any better, buys this fish in bulk (there was a sale), and seeing their scale move up, not at all, or decreasing slower than usual, and wondering how it is that they're not losing weight optimally despite weighing everything? This is why I pay extra attention and care to food labels.

    w92n2qvdm06n.jpg

    I bought some shrimp at Walmart once and the package claimed that 85g of shrimp was 45 calories.

    Just no.
    Yeah, stuff like that is why I look for USDA entries for meats and fruits.

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  • skinnyforhi
    skinnyforhi Posts: 340 Member
    Dana_E wrote: »
    Do any of you remember Olestra? Give it a google.

    I remember Olestra, though I never had the privilege of trying it. It does remind me of the customer reviews on Amazon for Haribo sugar-free gummy bears. If you have ten minutes, a box of tissues, and no recent abdominal surgery, I highly recommend reading through them.

    I'm nearly in tears- those reviews are hilarious!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Nachise wrote: »
    Trader Joe's has a Coffee Garlic spice rub. Second ingredient is brown sugar. Zero grams of sugar in the nutrient label.

    Tiny serving size though so they can probably get away with saying that is has no sugar.
  • VeloRat1969
    VeloRat1969 Posts: 18 Member
    On a package of bread: "100% multi-grain" :-)
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    My college boyfriend lost a lot of weight in high school by eating fat free and diet everything and his family always made fun of him saying that they had "diet air."
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    Cup of soup is two servings. I've split it when I used to eat them in college, but I imagine most people don't since they're in a single carton to be warmed with hot water and definitely can't be reused.
  • JaneSnowe
    JaneSnowe Posts: 1,283 Member
    "Protein" cheerios.
    Twice the amount of protein for....oh, wait for it.... twice the serving of average cheerios. Ha.

    What, really? Some of the things mentioned in this thread were simple mistakes or oversights, or the result of funny bureaucratic guidelines. This is completely intentional to take advantage of people who don't compare nutrition info. Why don't they aim for four times the protein, or eight times? Sales would go through the roof!

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    "Protein" cheerios.
    Twice the amount of protein for....oh, wait for it.... twice the serving of average cheerios. Ha.

    Lol I'm quite sure that protein pasta is very similar.
  • KetoneKaren
    KetoneKaren Posts: 6,412 Member
    edited May 2016
    Dana_E wrote: »
    Do any of you remember Olestra? Give it a google.

    I remember Olestra, though I never had the privilege of trying it. It does remind me of the customer reviews on Amazon for Haribo sugar-free gummy bears. If you have ten minutes, a box of tissues, and no recent abdominal surgery, I highly recommend reading through them.

    I'm nearly in tears- those reviews are hilarious!

    Yep. These reviews are worth reading. Go to the one star customer reviews.

    http://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B00CMS8RQC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_show_all?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&pageNumber=1

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2DQNJRV27D3P0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_viewpnt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B000EVOSE4#R2DQNJRV27D3P0
  • RebeccaLansdown
    RebeccaLansdown Posts: 101 Member
    JaneSnowe wrote: »
    Linzon wrote: »
    I thought this was a gag gift when I first saw it.

    I know people are trying to lose weight but does it really have to come to THIS?


    whipped-peanut-butter-spread.jpg

    100% GUARANTEED for what exactly? :laugh:

    ..what exactly is that if it's free of everything? Is it a jar of peanut-scented air?

    I had to know too so I found this on the Walden Farms website:

    PeanutSpread.gif

    Basically thickeners with color and flavor added. :s


    Okay, one of my coworkers brought this junk in to work one day and encouraged people to try it. It looked awful to me so I declined then watched everyone who tried it turn green and all but scrape their tongues clean after spitting it out! They all said it was nasty. The funny thing is the coworker that brought it in had never tried it and basically attempted to use us all a Guinea pigs to see if it was any good. Lol
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    Dana_E wrote: »
    Do any of you remember Olestra? Give it a google.

    I remember Olestra, though I never had the privilege of trying it. It does remind me of the customer reviews on Amazon for Haribo sugar-free gummy bears. If you have ten minutes, a box of tissues, and no recent abdominal surgery, I highly recommend reading through them.

    I'm nearly in tears- those reviews are hilarious!

    Ah, what a pleasant trip down Memory Lane.

    "Olestra - that's why they have Depends."

    PS.
    Turns out Olestra wasn't food after all; it was (as you knew), an industrial product.

    Olestra makes a comeback
    Olestra may no longer be in your potato chips and crackers, but you may see something close to it on the shelves of your local hardware store. Procter & Gamble, the company that makes olestra (brand name Olean), is now using olestra-like chemicals to make eco-friendly paints and lubricants.

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