Ask a Dietitian

As seen on BCTV April 30/02

If you thought that the name of a food on the cover of its box actually describes what is in the box think again. When you see orange juice on a label you expect to get orange juice in the container and when you see 100% whole wheat bread, you know it is whole wheat. But when it comes to some packaged foods the name on the label can be misleading. In the UK if a food uses word cheese in the name it must state how much cheese is actually in the prod Product. For example, Christie Mini Ritz Bits Sandwiches contains only 3% real cheese and it states it on the label. However, in Canada our ingredients are listed from most to least so it’s not until you read the tiny print on the side of the box that you see cheese is not the first or even 4th ingredient on the package. Some other ingredient secrets are the Yoplait Tubes where the pictures on the package would lead you to believe that there is actually fruit inside but the truth is that there is no real fruit at all, just simulated flavour.

Premium Plus Five Grain crackers contain less whole grain flour than white flour and you can see this by reading the ingredient list, but what you can’t tell is that there is less than 10% whole grain flour.

Sherriff added touch blueberry muffin mix contains “imitation blueberries” made with sugar, hydrogenated oil, flour, cellulose gum, citric acid, artificial colour and flavour.

General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios have more sugar and salt than honey and nuts (not that honey is any healthier than sugar). Regular Cheerios would be a better choice with only 5% sugar instead of 30% in the Honey Nut version.

Campbell’s Chicken and Rice soup contains only 1 ½ tsp of chicken, that’s less than 7g in the whole can. Now wonder it is low cal, chicken broth should be.

Mott’s In-a-Minute Kiwi/Strawberry juice is mostly sugar and the kiwi and strawberry juice comes after the citric acid on the ingredient list.

To make things even more difficult, manufactures have designed labels that have blown letters on brown backgrounds. Try reading the ingredients on Michelina’s Vegetable and chicken stir-fry dinner or Lea Perrins Worcestershire sauce.

If you have difficulty reading fine print bring a magnifying glass (you won’t be the only one). If you are concerned about the ingredients in a product call the company or email the nutritionist at www.saveonfoods.com and go to the “Ask Our Nutritionist” section.

Source: Nutrition Action Health Letter

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