What's not on the label

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Posted at 2:38PM, 29 January 2009 by Lulu Grimes - Deputy editor, olive magazine

I find myself getting increasingly incensed by cynical labelling. I love food shopping, I can spend hours trundling up and down food aisles and round markets examining packages in depth but I don't always have time. Sometime I have to just throw stuff in the basket and move on. That's when the wool gets pulled over my eyes by the labelling.

Take juices and fruit drinks, I usually buy Rocks organic squash but they'd run out so I grabbed Robinsons instead. 'No added sugar' says the label on the front in big print, I stupidly take that to mean that the fruit is sweet enough. Ha. Sweeteners (aspatame, saccharin) says the small print on the back. Aspartame (aka Equal, Canderel and NutraSweet) I am not keen on, mainly because I don't believe in eating or drinking chemicals when there is a natural alternative. And by the way, should someone try and slip it past you in another form it is also known as E951.

I don't believe in eating or drinking chemicals when there is a natural alternative

As for the Fruit Shoots I picked up at the same time because we had kids visiting, No Artificial Sweeteners, No Artificial Colours shouts the front. This is what it says on the back. Water, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Fruit Juices from Concentrate (Blackcurrant 5%, Apple 4%), Sugar, Citric Acid, Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum), Vitamins (C, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, B6), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate), Natural Flavouring, Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Dimethyl Dicarbonate), Natural Colour (Anthocyanins). A big tick to them for just using sugar but this really does have too many ingredients to be nice. Ugh.

We are working on a piece about GM food for the April issue of olive at the moment, another thing to look out for on labels if you are keen to avoid it.

So what drives you mad about labeling? Have you found anything in the small print that makes you really cross? Please share.

Comments

spottymint

29 January 2009, 7:02PM
spottymint

Hi Unless they have changed the recipe (not used it in years) Sunny Delight almost looks like real juice, when you read the lable, it even includes Vegetable OIL!

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flubbles1982

30 January 2009, 9:42AM
flubbles1982

I don't understand how some products can get away without listing nutritional information. I was bought a selection box of biscuits (mcvities) for Christmas and none of the biscuits have any form of nutritional information! Also products that have figures like 'only 5% fat' etc, but that figure can actually be a really high fat content, but a percentage has been used to fool shoppers!

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heather

31 January 2009, 5:05PM
heather

trans fat! i'm a dietitian and this irks me to no end. most consumers don't know that a product can be labeled "trans fat free" while there may still be 0.5g or less per serving. if a product says "trans fat free", look at the label for "partially hydrogenated ___ oil" - if yes, there IS trans fat. consistency and truth in labelling, please!! cheers, *heather* http://squirrelbread.wordpress.com

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ADE

2 February 2009, 4:50PM
ADE

We need to spend a few more minutes reading the label. I have friends who think I am off my trolley because I refer to labels if in doubt about the product. The manufacturers are very sneaky when it comes to identifying the exact contents of the tin or the jar.

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Mrs Chutney

2 February 2009, 7:45PM
Mrs Chutney

Buy from country & farmers markets where you can ask the maker what is in the goods. Buy frozen where there are less additives to preserve and fresh wherever possible. Why buy things with additives? there is always an alternative

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miniminx

18 February 2009, 6:14PM
miniminx

'vegetarian' products that list gelatin, taurine, shellac or cochineal.....or even eggs, dairy or honey products (it's just presumptuous, sorry....vegans are vegetarians too).

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