Does the world really need another soft drink?

And a carbonated dairy drink with 7 teaspoons worth of sugar at that?

The Coca Cola Company seems to think YES, and is rolling out vio – “the world’s first vibrancy drink” – initially in New York City for a trial run. The marketing copy includes “ultra hip” one liners such as It kinda tastes like a birthday party for a polar bear…It kinda tastes like a first kiss…

The products  boast natural cane sugar, no artificial flavors, calcium, and antioxidant vitamin C.

We have sacrificed ourselves for you dear readers, and took a bottle for a test drive. Here is what we discovered… Read more…

Last week we got a refreshing email from the Fruit Guys, who run a fresh fruit (and vegetable) delivery service in key metropolitan areas across the country. here’s their story:

The Fruit Guys is a green and sustainability-focused company that delivers farm-fresh, organic & conventional fruit to offices across the country. The FruitGuys recently launched their home delivery service, making it easy for everyone to access the best locally produced fruit. Each fruit crate delivered includes a delicious mix of bananas, oranges, apples and seasonal fruit. During peak season 70-90% of the fruit mixes offered are locally grown within the regions they serve (East Coast, Midwest, West Coast) and literally go from the farm to home or office within 3-4 days.

And in the San Francisco Bay area they do veggies too.

Would we want to try out a fresh crate?

Who could refuse.

We had the box shipped to faithful reader Zack S and his family, and here is what they said. Read more…

Each year, 18,000 new products are introduced to supermarkets across the country.

With temperatures rising and summer almost here, beverage manufacturers are in high gear, promoting their new drinks. (Our local waterworks are not so industrious. Same old tap water, again.)

So we weren’t surprised when, a few weeks ago, we got an email from juice company R.W. Knudsen informing us of a new product line launching this month called Sparkling Essence.

We had our loyal reader Brook from Eugene, Oregon try out the drinks with his family and friends. In the meantime we analyzed the nutrition info.

Click on to learn what Brook had to say,  what his mother-in-law thought, and how this drink stacks up nutritionally… Read more…

Fresh off the recent candy expo in Chicago, we bring you a taste test and nutrition review of one of the better tasting products out there. Dove has been better known for its ice cream bars, but recently moved into the chocolate space.

Our testers loved the texture and rich flavor of this product saying  The peanut butter chocolates were delicious and very creamy. They didn’t quite look the same as the picture on the package, but then which food products do ?

Unfortunately, the taste comes at a nutritional price.

A packet contains around 30 pieces. A recommended serving size is 5 pieces (but show us the person who’ll stop there…)

Each serving will cost you 220 calories. Of those, 130 are from fat. That’s 14 grams of fat of which 8 grams are saturated. Those are 22% and 40% of your daily recommended maximum values, respectively. The label says 0 trans fat (we’ll see about that) and there are 8 grams of sugar (3.5 teaspoons).

The ingredient list includes the usual suspects (milk chocolate and peanuts) but also partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil and or partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Whenever you see a partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredient list, it means that the product DOES CONTAIN TRANS FAT.

How can this be if the nutrition panel says 0 trans fat?

Simple. There is an annoying loophole in the labeling regulations set by the FDA that lets you round off to zero anything smaller than 0.5 grams per serving. Manufacturers can then set the serving size to be just under the 0.5 grams threshold value. But as we mentioned earlier, 5 pieces of chocolate seems too little for a serving, so imaging you are sharing a bag with a friend. You’ll be consuming 3 times the servings, and possibly consuming a fair amount of this very unhealthy fat, without you even being aware!

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We recently reviewed several healthy snack options,  fruit leathers, and freeze dried fruit. Today, a look at another option – Bear Fruit Bars. We’d like to thank reader Sarah S, a Fooducate Product Tester, for her feedback.

Bear Fruit Bars are manufactured by a small company called Mountain Organic Foods and come in four flavors – Organic Apple, Organic Apple Cherry, Organic Apple Raspberry, Organic Apple Blueberry. As you can see, the main motive here is apples. The Bear guys operate an organic  orchard in the Hood River Valley in Oregon.

So how did these organic snacks stack up?
Read more…

We recently covered freeze dried fruit snacks, and today we’ll take a look at leather snacks. Chef Roberts, operating in the New York metropolitan area, has recently launched a line of fruit leather. From the Chef’s marketing department:

Matt’s Munchies are all-natural fruit leathers free of gluten, nuts, eggs and dairy products. There are 6 palate-pleasing flavors with no artificial coloring or preservatives. Great for vegans and those concerned with food allergies. All flavors are less then 100 calories per one ounce serving with no added sugar, oils or salts. They make for a super convenient, tasty nutrition-perfect snack on the go, a tasty companion to a glass of wine, or a healthy dessert after dinner.

The six flavors are divided into 2 categories:

Banana based – Choco-Nana, Apple Pie, and plain old Banana
Mango based – Island Mango, Ginger Zest, and plain Mango

Read on to find out which flavor is the tastiest, and learn what’s inside the label.

Read more…

As children, we loved visiting The Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. Besides all the cool spacegear, a special treat awaited us at the souvenir shop – Astronaut Dessert in the form of freeze dried ice cream. Strawberry and Chocolate flavor. Melt in your mouth heaven for a 9 year old.

Fast forward to present day, Freeze Dried Partners LLC has recently introduced a line of freeze dried snacks called Funky Monkey, made from real fruit. There are 4 flavors, 3 of which are USDA Organic. From the manufacturer:

Funky Monkey Snacks contain no added sugar, preservatives, colors or flavors.  The snacks are made using a proprietary freeze-drying process on whole slices and large pieces of fruit.  The process, not used on any other snack available in the U.S., removes approximately 97 percent of the moisture content of the fruit, providing a crisp, crunchy texture, while retaining nearly all of the fruit’s nutrients.

Funky Monkey Snacks are a healthier and more natural alternative to dried fruit or fruit snacks.  Dried fruit does not preserve all the nutrients of fresh fruit, and fruit snacks often contain added sugars (including high-fructose corn syrup), colors, flavors and preservatives.

Below are the results of our taste test and nutritional analysis. Read more…