manufacturers trying to fool the semi-educated?

kathryn

kathryn

Cathlete
I was in the grocery store the other day, and one of the things on my list was peanut butter (Smucker's natural: only peanuts and salt). I happened to see a new "Natural" peanut butter by Jiff(?) and thought I might try it...until I read the ingredients:
peanuts (yeah, that's natural for peanut butter), sugar (WTF? it's "natural," but not for p.b.!), palm kernal oil ($U*@(! 80% of calories from saturated fat! No, thanks!), salt (ah, at last another REALLY natural igredient for p.b.).

I know the term "natural" isn't regulated by law, and if it's not "artificial, "technically, it's "natural," but this seems so dishonest to me. And how is this so-called "natural" p.b. any different from typical p.b.?

Thing is, I wonder how many people will just see the "natural" label, and never even read the ingredients.

I'm also very suspicious about this "white whole grain" bread that's out. I haven't checked the label (I don't buy regular grocery store bread, so I don't go to that section), but I can't believe it's on the up-and-up. I imagine that the grain, if it's whole to begin with, is milled so finely that your body reads it as unwhole and it's as high on the glycemic index as white bread.
 
Thanks for bringing this up Kathryn...:)...it has always irritated me about the so called "natural" foods! I have always read labels but now being Vegan I look for a few different things.

I also laughed during the "Fat Free" phase 10-15 years ago where the ingredients didn't have fat listed instead they added more SUGAR!!!

I believe I also read transfat will be regulated in 2006. The exact amount has to be on the nutrtional label.

I don't eat much bread but if I do I normally make my own....:)...Carole
 
I get a kick out of the "Trans Fat Free" products. If you just glance at them quickly, you might think they're fat free. You gotta love the advertising industry. x(

Becky
 
Kathryn, I thought the exact same thing you did when I saw the Jif Natural PB and read the label more closely (actually, I think it was Skippy Natural, although I wouldn't be surprised if Jif was doing this too). I was very disappointed that this was being marketed as a "natural" product when in fact, it has tons of added ingredients. Granted, sugar and palm kernel oil are probably a wee bit better than high-fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils... but still! Very disappointing indeed!

Also, I looked into that white whole wheat bread and it is not 100% whole wheat - it is a blend of white flour and whole wheat flour (although they do not mention in what ratio). It was designed solely to appeal to children who only eat white bread, so their parents can sneak some whole grains into their diets. It supposedly has a taste and texture just like white bread. Blech! It's not a product for clean eaters - avoid it like the plague!!!
 
I've always been angry about the "Wheat" label showing up on just about every cracker and bread product, even "whole wheat" sometimes, but then the product never actually has any fiber in it....
Also, so many products are now being labeled "transfat free," but if you read the ingredients there are still hydrogenated oils somewhere near the middle of the ingredients list. Sometimes with an accompanying asterix and the fine print "Adds a trivial amount of transfat" Sigh...
Mattea
 
Yep, I got suckered in to buying Skippy Natural. I read the label AFTER I got home, big mistake. Palm kernel oil!!
 
!

>I've always been angry about the "Wheat" label showing up on
>just about every cracker and bread product, even "whole wheat"
>sometimes, but then the product never actually has any fiber
>in it....

Yeah, I think that's "tricky" (or can we say "dishonest"?) marketing as well. "wheat" doesn't mean "whole wheat" (white flour is usually ade from wheat).

>Also, so many products are now being labeled "transfat free,"
>but if you read the ingredients there are still hydrogenated
>oils somewhere near the middle of the ingredients list.
>Sometimes with an accompanying asterix and the fine print
>"Adds a trivial amount of transfat"

Yeah, this "X-free" labeling (that allows a certain amount of "X" to still be included) is pretty whacky (especially since many experts are now saying that the safest level of trans fats is ZERO.

Several years ago, before the new Organic labeling laws, Kashi cereal (the one you cook from grains---this was before they had ready-t0-eat cereal), was labeled as "organic." Try as I might, I couldn't see any indication of any ingredient being organically grown, or any organic certification. They were obviously using the term in another sense, meaning "not mineral"! If it once grew, it's organic! I didn't buy any of their cereal for several years after that, because I thought it was a cheap trick.
 
oh don't you love it. i have been reading labels carefully for over a year now. with viola's autism i am trying to give the food kids love but without all the processed chemical and sugar crap. have you also seen the commericals for cereal with whole grain and most of them have 12g or more of sugar and maybe,if you are luckly, 1g of dietary fiber.so much for whole grain. even some of the "wheat" bread doesnt have more than 1g of fiber. this is the true reason there are claims of obesity epidemics. ppl are being misled and many don't even bother to read labels they just take the word for it. i preach the gospel to ppl about reading labels LOL. whether they are going to eat it or not they should know whats in it.

kassia

When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be
disappointed to discover they are not it -- Bernard Bailey
 
Sara Lee's Whole Grain White bread is a good example.

I only buy whole grain but my kids wanted me to try out this one, too because it looked white. After only 5 days of eating the bread, they begged me to buy our regular, real whole grain bread because they were constipated.
 
Here's another head's up on labels. Yes, in 2006 manufacturers have to list whether there are transfats, so watch for a bunch of them to promote no trans fats (partially hydrogenated or hyrdogenated oils) BUT then see how many of them list palm or palm kernal oil - which has almost the same toxic effect as the hydrogenated versions of other oils. We need to make ourselves aware of these issues. Thanks for bringing this up!

Lorrie
 
The "whole wheat" breads that are sold in regular supermarkets cannot be trusted. I haven't found any of them that are not a combination of whole wheat and white flour, like someone said. Also, they contain corn syrup or other unhealthy stuff in there.

Thanks Goodness for bread making machines!
 
There are certainly lots of misleading labeling, or even labeling that's just inaccurate.
My favorite is 1%, 2%, etc. milk labels. Many people believe that those numbers actually mean that there is that percentage of fat in the milk. 1% milk is actually about 25% fat I believe.
 
>The "whole wheat" breads that are sold in regular
>supermarkets cannot be trusted. I haven't found any of them
>that are not a combination of whole wheat and white flour,
>like someone said. Also, they contain corn syrup or other
>unhealthy stuff in there.
>

IMO, any "whole grain" bread that is soft and mushy either must have questionable ingredients in (dough conditioners, etc.), or doesn't have enough whole grains in.

Like I said, I rarely buy bread in a regular grocery store. I tried that "Baker's Inn" whole grain bread once. First ingredient is whole grains. It's brown (but strangely so...from the molasses and other ingredients that add the color). But it is SO soft and gross, IMO. The only way I can stomach that soft type of bread is if it's toasted to add some texture to it. And even then, that underlying pastiness seems to linger. I'll stick with my sprouted grain breads (usually hamburger buns) from Food for Life (even though the buns are sometimes a bit tough and need to be microwaved a few seconds to soften them up...but that's the kind of bread I'm use to).

I walked by a display of white bread (the kind most Americans eat) the other day, and the thought of that pasty, mushy, textureless bread made me want to gag (the exact same effect it had last time I tried to eat it, because someone served me a veggie burger on a white bun). Homemade white bread isn't at all like that stuff.

Funny thing is, I used to HATE "dark bread" when I was a kid. And I LOVED the white stuff (even though, after a Girl Scout trip to Master Bread Bakeries in Minneapolis, we each got a free loaf of fresh bread, and proceded to make "dough balls" out of the slices and throw them at each other on the bus!)

Corn syrup is EVERYWHERE! I try to absolutely avoid it.

Interesting thing about palm oil: there is palm KERNEL oil (which is what most manufacturers use) that's about 80% saturated fat. Then FRUIT oil (which some few manufacturers, like Newman's Own Organics) use, which is only around 30% saturated. Of course, the regular consumer wouldn't catch those nuances.
 
Kathyrn ~ Thanks for bring this up. I did see that Jiff and read the label and didn't buy it. I did buy the Smucker's Natural PB. I did buy that Sara Lee bread for my kids though. I was buying a "wheat" bread before that which wasn't whole wheat for them. Another thing I learned on this forum! :) I've tried to make the switch to a whole wheat bread, but they complained about that. I thought the new Sara Lee bread would be the answer, but after I bought it I started questioning the ingredients. Maybe I should invest in a bread maker?

It already takes me forever at the grocery store because I'm reading all the labels!:-(

Dallas
 
>I'm also very suspicious about this "white whole grain" bread
>that's out. I haven't checked the label (I don't buy regular
>grocery store bread, so I don't go to that section), but I
>can't believe it's on the up-and-up. I imagine that the
>grain, if it's whole to begin with, is milled so finely that
>your body reads it as unwhole and it's as high on the glycemic
>index as white bread.

You can read about 'white whole wheat' bread here:
http://www.mercola.com/2005/apr/9/white_whole_wheat.htm

I think it's on the up-and-up.

I know that some white breads claim they have as much fiber & nutrition as whole wheat and they are actually supplemented with wood fiber! My daughter eats IronKids bread and it has wheat gluten and cottonseed fiber in it. Yikes! But it's hard to get kids to eat anything nutritious with fiber in it.

Dawn P.
 
The thing I wonder about is, is there actually anything decent out there we can eat? Veggies have poisons sprayed all over them, or they're genetically modified. Meat has hormones and chemicals, grain products have no nutrients.... ahhhhh!

Eating organic can be frightfully expensive, and depending on where you live, the quality of fresh food can be plain old bad.

Anybody want to start farming?
 
We actually have a farmers market--that's right, a farmers market in urban north Jersey--that sells pretty much the purest stuff I can find.

Also I think Whole Foods & other stores of the like do sell pretty good, organic, chemical free meats & veggies, but you sure do pay the price for them.
 
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