Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

• How to cook: Mark Bittman hands his Bitten over to his producer, who wants to learn to cook. Her first effort is pumpkin soup. Not everything goes to plan, but she makes a soup that’s “tasty and satisfying”. * Credit crunch lunch: Shocked to realise the real cost of school lunches, Charlotte from The Great Big Vegetable Challenge has made some butternut pumpkin tarts for packed lunches – and they’re only 40p a serve. * Chickpea salad: Lovely …

Read more 24 October, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

• Home squeezed oranges: When your orange juice carton claims it’s home squeezed you have to think twice. Interesting article on how food manufacturers are trying to tap into the locavore movement. * Asparagus salad: Oh my. Just look at the salad on Stonesoup – asparagus, mozzarella, capers, buckets of herbs. I can’t think of many more heavenly ideas. * Falafels: For weeks now I’ve been craving good falafels. Moist, full of herbs and with a crunchy outside coating. ...

Read more 17 October, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

In Q & A Thursday Kaya asks: what constitutes a ‘high’ or ‘low’ salt product. Salt is made up of two elements: sodium and chloride. These are both electrolytes and they’re important to your body. * Fluid balance: they assist in maintaining the subtle and complex balance of fluids in your body, despite the daily fluctuations in your water intake and losses. * Nerve and muscle function: They’re involved in muscle contraction and relaxation and assisting the transferral of …

Read more 04 September, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is centred on improving your awareness of what you eat. And today we’re talking about food labelling. If you’re buying food in a packet, it’s likely to contain more ingredients than you’d think. Some of this is logical. To get a food to retain its shape, flavour, texture and stay fresh for more than a week, manufacturers have to add flavour enhancers, preservatives, gums, texturisers. Manufacturers also want you to …

Read more 17 August, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Last week I blogged about some of the tricks and traps of food labelling – the marketing that’s used to make a product look better than it actually is. There are many, many examples of this. Some more obvious than others. While spiderman chocolate breakfast cereal is a true Frankenstein food, it’s pretty obvious this product is not healthy. Instead it’s the more sneaky products that drive me up the wall. And the top of my most hated list? ...

Read more 17 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Food shopping used to be simple. You’d buy meat from the butcher, vegetables from the greengrocer, milk from the milkman. But that’s not the case anymore. Now food comes in boxes and wrappers. It’s covered in words and phrases which promise a lot. It may be “a delicious snack the whole family can enjoy” or “full of the goodness of wholesome grains”. Other products have a “fresh chopped taste” or even a “new formula with fruit pulp”. Sounds good …

Read more 08 July, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Time for the normal Friday Quicklinks round-up. Articles I’ve been reading and recipes I think you’ll like: * Eating locally: It’s claimed eating locally is better for you, but nobody’s done the research. The Well reports on a team from University of North Carolina who are going to study the health impact of the local foods movement. * Health claims on food: A piece on the extravagant health claims made about some foods. And attempts to control this trend …

Read more 20 June, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Just saw this report on CalorieLab – about a French initiative which leverages healthy eating messages off the back of food industry adverts. bq. Since February 2007, advertisements for foods on French television and radio are obligated to include health messages created by the government. Companies have the option to refuse to publicize the health messages, but are in turn taxed 1.5 percent of their advertising budget for that particular campaign, a sum that the French National Food Industry Association …

Read more 19 April, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

• Food labelling: I’ve blogged about being wary of food marketers using the word natural before. This week Refrigerator Raid posted about discussions in the US of what is natural?. There’s also some good advice on choosing the best foods for you. * Mediterranean lamb pizza recipe: Should You Eat That posted a simple Mediterranean lamb pizza recipe. Pitta bread bases, covered with pesto, lamb mince and a reasonable veg component. It’s then topped off with ricotta, a healthier …

Read more 16 November, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Should manufacturers be allowed to advertise junk food to children? This is one of the key questions being discussed at the Consumers International conference in Sydney. The cartoon character Shrek featured heavily in food promotion earlier this year. Toys are regularly used as giveaways in cereal boxes and at fast food outlets. Many food manufacters have websites featuring games and giveaways. It’s no longer enough to market food products to parents. Instead manufacturers are now directly targeting kids. Concerns …

Read more 30 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

It’s Q & A Thursday and the first question is about something which appears on every packet of food: the nutrition information panel. LeAnne has asked: bq. I’ve been eating a lot of soy products. Everything I buy is dry and I have to soak it in water before I cook it. The nutrition information is on the box for 100 grams of product. Is that 100 grams before or after I soak it? When it comes to …

Read more 25 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Most of us know to reduce the fat, sugar and sodium in our diet. However these can be hidden away in the ingredients list. For example, while “salt” may be listed at the end of the ingredients, the product may still contain a lot of sodium, The salt is simply disguised as other ingredients. Similarly fats and sugars also often travel incognito. h3. The many names for fat: * margarine * butter * vegetable oil * lard * shortening * ...

Read more 24 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

A couple of weeks ago I asked what’s wrong with these ready meals?. In amongst the excellent answers, a couple of readers talked about food label trickery. And they’re right. Like natural, lite and light, the words healthy and lean don’t have any legal definition. Food manufacturers can slap those two words on any products they want. It gives the food the aura of wellbeing. The hope is you’re a time-poor consumer who wants to eat well. So you’ll pick …

Read more 17 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

In a report that somewhat befudlles me, I read in today’s SMH that the ACCC has dismissed a complaint by some pork farmers into misuse of the phrase “free range”. The ACCC has ruled there is no difference between pigs who spend their whole life outside and those which only spend the first few weeks of their life outside, before being moved to intensive rearing enclosures. The ruling hinges on consumer interpretation of the phrases “free range” and “bred free …

Read more 18 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

FSANZ last week released a range of new and updated resources, aimed at making it easier to understand food labels. These are available from their website and include: * A food labelling poster, outlining the main information on labels. * An online interactive-ish example of what all the food label information means. * An online presentation about food labelling in Australia. * Plus there’s a handy pocket guide to food labels which you can print out or order directly from …

Read more 18 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

The newly formed Obesity Policy Coalition have called for GST to be added to sweet breakfast cereals. GST is already added to cakes, biscuits and confectionary and the OPC believe sugary cereals should be included in this category, as they’re “junk food dressed up as breakfast cereal”. The OPC includes obesity experts from the Victorian Cancer Council, Diabetes Australia (Victoria) and the WHO Collaborating Centre on Obesity Prevention at Deakin University. They are concerned about the increasing rates of overweight …

Read more 12 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

I was wandering the supermarket over the weekend, looking at cereal bars. A client had asked about the Special K Bars and I wanted to take a look for myself. h3. What are they? Made by Kelloggs, these snack bars are part of the Special K cereal range, they have a yoghurty drizzle and come in two flavours – original and mango & passionfruit. They’re popular because each bar is low in fat (1.2g), carbohydrate (17.9g) and energy (419 …

Read more 05 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Next in Q & A Thursday, Simone has asked about allergens in food products and why the phrase may contain traces of . . . seems to be on every packet you pick up. Since 2003 if a product contains one of the most common food allergens it has to be listed on the label, no matter how small the quantity. This means if a food contains peanuts, other nuts, seafood, fish, milk, gluten, eggs or soybeans this must be …

Read more 30 August, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

In the world of food and health marketing “natural” is a well favoured world. Labels claim “natural goodness for the whole family”, “made from natural ingredients” and “fresh and natural”. There are “natural living” eggs and supplements promoted as the natural way to health. In a Choice survey 86% of people were influenced by the word “natural”. But, in the labelling world “natural” doesn’t actually mean anything. While it gives the impression that food is unprocessed and doesn’t contain artificial …

Read more 29 August, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

The final question for this week’s Q&A Thursday is from Paul : bq. I’m frequently amazed at how long some foods can be kept, at least going by the published ‘best by’ date. A couple of examples recently: roasted kumera in oil (nearly 2 months), haloumi vaccuum packed (3 months unopened). Are you aware of any general concerns about ‘best by’ dates on foods? While it seems incredible how long some foods can be kept, Paul I’m actually not aware …

Read more 28 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

While there is a growing locavore trend in the US, here in Australia it’s still a fledgling movement. Most shops do not regularly display where their produce comes from, apart from an occasional “Australian grown”, which makes it difficult to work out what’s local. In the Herald, Robert Cornish decides to eat locally for one week. He shows you can find a wide variety of produce grown within a small radius of where you live, but it takes many phone …

Read more 27 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Today is the inaugural Q & A Thursday – your weekly opportunity to get answers to all those niggling nutrition, food and diet questions. h3. Question Matt asks about “lite” yoghurts, following the release of a new Choice report – are they good for you and what exactly qualifies as “lite”. I have to say that food labelling is one of my favourite topics, so I’m very happy to be starting off with this question. h3. Light / lite yoghurts …

Read more 31 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Food Standards Australia New Zealand have released a new booklet called Choosing the right stuff . It’s a guide to food labels and food additives, as well as the fat and kilojoules of common foods. There’s a report from the SMH here and more info about the booklet on the FSANZ site .

Read more 30 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

I was thinking about the recent Ribena apology last night and in particular the statement: bq. The testing method used to determine the level of Vitamin C was unreliable and we were unaware of this at the time. Testing methods revealed that Vitamin C levels in a number of our ‘ready-to-drink’ products deteriorated over time and did not meet the Vitamin C level stated on the nutritional information on the pack. This seems to me disingenuous at best. Why were …

Read more 11 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Sometimes when I see the advert for McDonald’s food, particularly that photo of the Big Mac, I find myself thinking “you know, that almost looks healthy”. Don’t worry, this insanity only lasts a moment, but the whole burger looks fresh and home-made. The bread seems to have substance and body, there’s a noticeable volume of vegetable and the meat looks juicy. So, why is it, when you buy the Big Mac it actually looks like this? It’s all …

Read more 10 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Following the recent court case highlighting msleading claims about the nutritional content of Ribena, GlaxoSmithKline have withdrawn the vitamin C statement from it’s packaging. As John Sayers, Manager Consumer Healthcare in Australia says on their website: bq. “Recently you may have heard about some issues relating to Ribena “ready to drink” products. We stated that some Ribena products contained a level of Vitamin C that was incorrect. The testing method used to determine the level of Vitamin C was unreliable …

Read more 08 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

GlaxoSmithKline in New Zealand have been fined $NZ227,500 ($200,000) for making misleading claims about the vitamin C content of Ribena. As I suspected , their claim that “the blackcurrants in Ribena contain four times the vitamin C of oranges” has been food label trickery. While blackcurrants themselves are indeed a rich source of vitamin C, Ribena only contains 4% of the fruit. Ribena is therefore a richer source of sugar, water and kilojoules than vitamin C. As reported in …

Read more 29 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

School science projects can lead to unlikely results – GlaxoSmithKline were caught out on their ribena claims by two New Zealand schoolgirls . Two years ago Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo, a couple of 14-year-old high school students tested the vitamin C levels in Ribena. Not only did they find it contained very little vitamin C, they also found at least one commercial orange juice brand which had four times more vitamin C than Ribena. I’m wondering if this is …

Read more 27 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

An article on ethical eating in last week’s herald provides some useful information and resources. Making ethical food choices is tricky, there are few easy answers and, at the moment, there’s no centralised resource to help negotiate the issues. For example, many shops label their chickens as “hormone-free”, however oestrogen has been banned from chicken feed since the 1960s, so this is a marketing ploy. There is a strong perception in the community that hormones are fed to chickens, which …

Read more 25 January, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Some interesting resources on the website of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest . These are the guys threatening legal action against Enviga , for misleading advertising. The CSPI are based in the US and some of the brands and issues they mention are not relevant to us, here in Australia. However, their website has a section for kids and I particularly like the ””Trust Gus? quiz . The scenario: bq. Gus Bogus is a food industry spokesman …

Read more 13 January, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

I can’t say I was thrilled this week to read that Enviga will be on sale in Australia from July this year. Enviga is a carbonated green tea soft drink, manufactured by Coca-Cola and Nestle, which they say has “negative calories”. They claim that drinking three cans of Enviga will slightly raise your metabolism, making the average person burn between 60 – 100 calories. Very little is known about how it works and this claim has not been independently tested. ...

Read more 12 January, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Given I’ve ditched the blogroll, I thought I’d run through some of the blogs I’ve been reading recently. h3. The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl One of my recent discoveries are The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl . With over 50% of men and 40% of women in NSW overweight or obese, the difficulties of losing weight is a big topic and Dietgirl’s site is a very personal account of her challenges and successes. Everyone needs support while making major life changes …

Read more 11 January, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Lisa Pryor had an excellent rant in the weekend herald – on the current advertising campaign for Cottee’s cordial. Their slogan is “Kids need water. Cottee’s makes it fun”. As Lisa says: bq. The brilliance and the bastardry of this slogan is that it never actually claims cordial is healthy, while implying it all the same. Is it true that kids need water to be healthy? Yes. Is it true that Cottees makes water fun? You could argue the point. ...

Read more 06 December, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

With domestic supplies of canola affected by the drought, Cargill (which imports, processes and markets agricultural and food products) will be receiving a consignment of genetically modified (GM) canola from Canada, within the next month. This is the first time GM canola has been imported into Australia and between 40,000 and 50,000 tonnes of canola is being imported. Labelling laws in Australia mean that products containing highly processed GM foods do not need to be labelled. “As Claire Hughes from …

Read more 29 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

There’s been a whole lot of stuff in the media about food labelling over the past month and I’ll be blogging about this more extensively next week. In the meantime, the herald reports today that food manufacturers may not be giving the correct information on their nutrition panels (story here ), plus the introduction of national standards for use of words and phrases like “organic” and “free range” (story here ).

Read more 24 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Fruit Roll-ups are flat strips of sticky, violently coloured, chewy stuff. They’re sweet, but don’t really look, smell or taste like fruit. Roll-ups are heavily marketed to both kids and parents as a tasty snack, made of real fruit and therefore a good alternative to packing a piece of fruit in lunch-boxes. However, as I’ve said before , you really can’t believe everything food manufacturers tell you and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has just rapped Uncle Toby’s …

Read more 22 September, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Potato chips are a better snack than biscuits I saw the report of this misconception in the weekend herald – because they’re made from a vegetable, potato chips are a better snack. While biscuits are in now way an ideal snack, potato chips are worse. They’re chock-a-block full of fat, with a 50g packet containing about 15g of fat and just over 1,000 kJ. Most plain biscuits are lower than this, a fat free yoghurt is about 400kJ, while …

Read more 18 July, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Ross Gittins, the economics writer, has an an interesting article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald , on the issue of obesity. The core issue is, living in a free market economy, do manufacturers have the right to load their foods up with fat and sugar, if we the consumers are still willing to buy those foods? It’s normal business sense to make your product as enticing as possible. Frying it and filling it with sugar, salt and fat, is a …

Read more 28 June, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Aaah food marketers, you’ve gotta love ‘em. While I get frustrated at food labelling and the misleading information on most packaging, I do often slightly and quietly admire the gall – it makes me chuckle anyway. One of my favourite things, are those selling points that imply a particular brand is different from all its competitors, when the selling point is actually a quality inherent in all of that type of foodstuff. An example, that seems to have disappeared in …

Read more 21 June, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Following the news that, from next month, Kellogg’s will be providing more information about the kilojoule content of their cereals, my aunt (thanks Bridget) sent me a booklet from the Tesco’s supermarket in the UK. They are in the process of updating all the labels on their foodstuffs to include the following information: * total amount per serve of calories, sugar, total fats, saturated fats and salt * the percentage, per serving, of the average total daily intake those amounts …

Read more 15 June, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling

Many of the foods we buy come in packets and these packets are covered in information, pictures and words. Designed to entice you to buy, much of this “stuff” is marketing information – encouraging you to believe the product is healthier, tastier, simply better than everything else. Some useful information does exist, but it’s often hard to decode. As some of you will know, food labelling is one of my pet subjects. The words “Kathryn, what’s the difference between ‘light’ …

Read more 06 June, 2006