Food frauds--Thanksgiving Special

by Stephen Gardner

So it's Thanksgiving time, when the entire country comes together in a frenzy of eating. At the Center for Science in the Public Interest, we pay attention to deceptive claims, and sometimes outright lies, about food (yes, I'm from an NGO and I'm here to help you).

In honor of this holiday, let's explore various ways food companies are out to rip you off.

So you get up Thanksgiving morning, and want to hold off on serious eating until dinner. Just a glass of juice, then. Here's Ocean Spray's No Sugar Added 100% Juice Cranberry. Drink up, then check out the label--golly, it's mostly grape juice, not cranberry! Back to the front of the label--nothing about grape juice there. Oh, look, there at the bottom in tiny mice type, it says CRANBERRY FLAVORED JUICE NATURALLY SWEETENED WITH ANOTHER JUICE FROM CONCENTRATE WITH ADDED VITAMIN C. ”Another juice,“ huh, but then check back to the product name--not “100% Cranberry Juice,” but “100% Juice Cranberry.“ Although I see that on its website, Ocean Spray chucks caution to the wind and flatout says it's “100% Cranberry Juice.”

Back to the ingredients list--shoot, it's not even 100% juice, not really, because it's got added flavors and ascorbic acid. And it's not even “no sugar added,” because juice companies frequently use grape juice as a sweetener and not for its juice qualities. Clever weasels these boggers, eh?

So give up on a healthy light breakfast and get ready for dinner. First, rolls. Still interested in trying to eat a little healthier, so let's go for Sara Lee Whole Grain Kaiser Rolls. Even the kids'll eat them, because Sara Lee found a way to make Whole Grain rolls that don't taste like whole grain. Their secret? Simple--they just don't use whole grains! The main ingredient is regular old bleached white flour, then water, and then finally a smidgen of whole wheat flour.

Next, the turkey. Let's go all natural on this baby. But wait, not so fast--“natural” doesn't mean that it's turkey the way Ma Nature made it. Some companies soak their chickens in salt water to make them juicier. Well, it does that but you are also paying by the pound for extra salt water, which the companies mask with language like “up to 5% retained water.” And this cranks up the sodium to near-french-fry levels. I don't know whether to call this Fowl Play or Chicken of the Sea. Here's a video on the practice: http://wral.com/5onyourside/video/2051174/

For dessert, let's go with Sara Lee Fruits of the Forest pie, packed with yummy apples, rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, “simmered in their own juices” to cut down on the added sugar. Don't take my word for it--here's a picture of the label:

Well, don't take Sara Lee's word for it, either. Fruits of the Forest (whatever that's supposed to mean) has more trans fat and sugar than any fruit except apples. Each serving has 340 calories, 4 -1/2 grams of saturated fat, and 4 grams of trans! That’s half a day’s bad fat. And it'd be worse if Sara Lee hadn't decided that it depends on how you slice it--in this case, into nine slices per pie--does Williams & Sonoma sell a pie protractor? (And I find myself humming, ”Everybody doesn't hate someone, but nobody doesn't hate Sara Lee.“)

After dinner, settle down for a game. And what's football without some chips? Since you stuffed yourself at dinner, you go for the Frito Lay Light chips, but only after eating several handfuls do you see that it's “light” because it uses that fake fat Olestra. Can you say “anal leakage”?

The way your luck has been running, I'd recommend against betting on the game. Thanks to the Lights, you may not be around for halftime, anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Comments

[generic viagra]

Well, it does that but you are also paying by the pound for extra salt water, which the companies mask with language like “up to 5% retained water.” And this cranks up the sodium to near-french-fry levels.

[buy viagra]

The best you can do for cranberry juice is to look for "no added sugar" (but yes, that means grape juice or another kind) and "filtered water sufficient to reconstitute cranberry juice concentrate" (i.e. not watered down). Again this is from memory, but I recall that, unlike orange juice, you just can't GET cranberry juice that's not concentrated and then reconstituted, even here in Massachusetts, home of the cranberry bog..

[bob]

I cant help it... the fruits of the forrest pie is there best one! I love it..MMMMMMMMMM

[Jay Levitt]

Cane juice isn't a vegetable??

No wonder I'm not losing weight.

[Steve Gardner]

I started to draft a response to Jay Leavitt's comments, but then I saw that he had done so himself in the last two paragraphs of his post. Thanks, Jay!

Jay is quite right that unsweetened cranberry juice is pretty darn tart, but the point of my post was that, because grape juice was used as a sweetener and not for its flavoring qualities, it was misleading--arguably flat-out false--to say that there was "no sugar added." It's little different from using cane juice instead of grape juice, and saying it was a vegetable and thus still "no sugar added."

Sweetened cranberry juice is fine, but Ocean Spray shouldn't try to jump on the no-added-sugar bandwagon in this deceptive manner.

[Jay Levitt]

The trouble with the first example is that you don't WANT 100% cranberry juice. It's thick, nasty, bitter. It'd be like eating baker's chocolate because of the 100% cocoa content.

I went on a cranberry-juice binge a few years ago, and discovered that, really, nobody makes true "cranberry juice", for exactly that reason. (Actually, I think there may be one brand - the one with the tall, sloping bottles - that sells "cranberry nectar", but again, it's nasty.)

The best you can do for cranberry juice is to look for "no added sugar" (but yes, that means grape juice or another kind) and "filtered water sufficient to reconstitute cranberry juice concentrate" (i.e. not watered down). Again this is from memory, but I recall that, unlike orange juice, you just can't GET cranberry juice that's not concentrated and then reconstituted, even here in Massachusetts, home of the cranberry bog.

Ocean Spray used to make a "Pure Pemium" brand that's like that, but I don't see it on their site now. It was pretty good, as was R.W. Knudsen.

(Update: However, I do see a "Pure Natural 100% Unsweetened Cranberry Juice" there! I guess that's new. I also suspect, as I say, you wouldn't want to drink it. Even their web site says "This is some powerful stuff.")