By: Anthony Campo
The goal of food marketing and packaging is to sell products, not to properly inform the public of its contents. Due to lack of regulation, you can find many processed foods with information on the front of the packaging that is simply untrue. If you take a deeper look at the actual ingredients you will often find contradictions to the claims on the front of the packaging. If you look through the boxed goods section of your local grocery store you are sure to find many examples such as this…
Front of package:
0 High Fructose Syrup!
Ingredients on back of package:
Ingredients
Whole Grain Oats, Cereal (whole grain oats, sugar, oat bran, corn starch, corn syrup, salt, pear puree concentrate, color [vegetable juice, fruit juice, annatto extract], tripotassium phosphate, natural flavor, sodium citrate, citric acid, vitamin E [mixed tocopherols] and ascorbic acid added to retain freshness, Vitamins and Minerals: calcium carbonate, zinc and iron [mineral nutrients], vitamin C [sodium ascorbate], A B vitamin [niacinamide], vitamin B6 [pyridoxine hydrochloride], vitamin B2 [riboflavin], vitamin B1[thiamin mononitrate], vitamin A [palmitate], A B vitamin [folic acid], vitamin B12, vitamin D3), Corn Syrup, Fructose, Sugar, Canola Oil, Chicory Root Extract, Whole Wheat Flour, Maltodextrin. Contains 2% or less of: Brown Rice Flour, Vegetable Glycerin, Corn Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Wheat Starch, Salt, Vegetable Juice Color, Baking Soda, Natural Flavor, Soy Lecithin.
There on the front of the package it claims “No High Fructose Corn Syrup.” When you flip the package over you see the building blocks for high fructose corn syrup right in the first 7 ingredients. As you continue reading you will find a total of 9 sources of ingredients that are basically the same as high fructose corn syrup.
Think of the individual with Type II diabetes trying to choose a healthy snack that will not sky rocket their blood sugar or the mother trying to find a better snack for their obese child. They come across a product like this and are duped into purchasing it by the lies on the packaging. This purposeful deception by food corporations are contributing greatly to the healthcare crisis we are currently in.