Hidden Ingredient Insanity

357girl

I bought some chorizo this week because I had a recipe that called for it. I didn't end up making the recipe, but this morning I went to the gym and came home to make some breakfast. Standing there, staring in the fridge, I thought, "ooh! mexi-eggs would be yummy!" So, I put 1/2 an avocado on the plate, cooked up a serving of the chorizo, sliced some olives and pulled out the picante sauce. I cooked up an egg and put it over the avocado and chorizo, put 2 Tbsp of picante and the olives on top. It was FANTASTIC! So, I entered my recipe into my recipe list and freaked out when the chorizo had 3 grams of carbs - wait, WHAT!? On closer inspection, the chorizo (it's supposed to be sausage, you know!) has Soy Grits in it??? WTF? You know, I've got Celiac disease so reading labels is nothing new to me, but I am constantly incensed by finding these crazy ingredients in what should be meat products. Don't get me started about the fact that I'm supposed to avoid soy... OY!

Anyone else want to chime in/rant?

Have a great day and READ THOSE LABELS!!

__Roxy__

I am super picky about sausage because of this. I've seen sausage with 6g carbs per link... mostly because they added sugar, soy or gluten of some variety! I now go for the more expensive "sugar-free, gluten-free" sausage that my local grocer makes in house... pricey but way better.

Last night I had some slices off a garlic coil, it was tasty so I asked to see the packaging. Whaddayaknow... sugar and MSG! What the heck.... why??? Garlic coil is delicious enough without those additives. Ugh.

kpk54

I ate chorizo once. Then I read it was made of salivary glands and lymph nodes. I went to the refrigerator to read the label and there it was: salivary glands and lymph nodes as the 1st 2 ingredients. I threw it away and never bought it again. I read labels on chorizo (now) in the store but haven't seen that since. Lots of times they read something like "pork byproducts". Since I don't know what that is specifically, I don't purchase store bought chorizo. I have made it on occasion with ground meat (pork usually) and think about all the delicious spices that are in it versus what part of the pig (or cow or chicken) was ground up.

There are just some things I don't want to know. I'm looking at you hot dogs.

blambo61

Yaaak!!!

Sabine_Stroehm

And restaurant menus. We went to a japanese restaurant. NO WHERE did it say that the hunks of meat I was ordering would be drenched in teriyaki sauce. BLECH.

RAC56

I looked all over our local grocery store the other day and couldn't find one hard salami that didn't have added sugar, grrrr. It's also frustrating when labels say things like, "spices" or "natural flavorings," etc. Is that code for MSG or maltodextrin or who knows what?

rfrenkel77

There is no bacon or sausage without dextrose period. The best you can do is avoid some crap brands that load corn starch into you sausage. Here attached are pics of my personal fave. At Kroger.

GaleHawkins

rfrenkel77 wrote: »

There is no bacon or sausage without dextrose period. The best you can do is avoid some crap brands that load corn starch into you sausage. Here attached are pics of my personal fave. At Kroger.

This is a good example of label reading when buying any kind of processed food to lower our health risks. Nitrates are the show stopper per my body so I could try the above.

ladipoet

You are so preaching to the choir here!! I read labels like crazy but just this past week-end, I couldn't believe what I did. I picked up four 1-pound tubes of beef to make a triple recipe of scotch eggs, and when I checked the label on after I'd already put the recipe together, I discovered that the Beef had SOY in it (I was so friggin' annoyed with myself)!!! Blergh!. Will definitely NOT be getting that particular brand again!

canadjineh

RAC56 wrote: »

I looked all over our local grocery store the other day and couldn't find one hard salami that didn't have added sugar, grrrr. It's also frustrating when labels say things like, "spices" or "natural flavorings," etc. Is that code for MSG or maltodextrin or who knows what?

It gets REALLY detailed and complicated fast: alimentheque.com/divers/GuideFoodLabellingAdvertising_CFIA_dec2011.pdf

If you are in Canada or Australia - MSG in food must be stated on the label. Here's a useful site to uncover any 'secret' MSG labeling in other countries: https://smh.com.au/healthcare/avoiding-msg-try-memorising-the-129-terms-food-companies-prefer-to-use-20150804-gir4e4.html

Dragonwolf

RAC56 wrote: »

I looked all over our local grocery store the other day and couldn't find one hard salami that didn't have added sugar, grrrr. It's also frustrating when labels say things like, "spices" or "natural flavorings," etc. Is that code for MSG or maltodextrin or who knows what?

Salami's a fermented meat, so the sugar is required to feed the starter culture. It's actually nearly all fermented away, it's just that because it's what went in, it has to be listed.

It's like with soap. All soap is made with lye, but it's all reacted away to make the soap. However, if the "ingredients that went in" are listed (as opposed to "the compounds that came out"), you still have to list the lye.

GaleHawkins

Dragonwolf wrote: »

RAC56 wrote: »

I looked all over our local grocery store the other day and couldn't find one hard salami that didn't have added sugar, grrrr. It's also frustrating when labels say things like, "spices" or "natural flavorings," etc. Is that code for MSG or maltodextrin or who knows what?

Salami's a fermented meat, so the sugar is required to feed the starter culture. It's actually nearly all fermented away, it's just that because it's what went in, it has to be listed.

It's like with soap. All soap is made with lye, but it's all reacted away to make the soap. However, if the "ingredients that went in" are listed (as opposed to "the compounds that came out"), you still have to list the lye.

And another day and I learned another eating fact. Thanks

sljohnson1207

Yes, I empathize. I could go on and on about this topic, but it's mostly been said already. My biggest pet peeve is when a perfectly good product is suddenly changed. Usually an added preservative or other crap I don't want in my food, and then it gets stricken from my choices.