We’ve been blogging recently about chocolate milk.  One of our readers commented with a question about Ovaltine as an option to sweeten milk .

Ovaltine is a milk flavoring invented in Switzerland more than a hundred years ago. The original formula contained eggs, malt, and a bit of cocoa. It then reached the UK and eventually the US, with each country using a different formula adapted to national preferences.

In the US today, Ovaltine is sold in 2 flavors – Malt and Rich Chocolate. Ovaltine is owned by Nestle (makers of Nesquik) and we checked their website for product info.

Here is our analysis. Read more…

We recently wrote about chocolate milk with too much sugar being served in school lunches. We also covered a chocolate drink that’s better left on the shelf. But as parents, we can’t ignore the fact that kids LOVE sweetened milk. So what alternatives are there for breakfast, suppertime, or afternoon snack companion?

We decided to compare 3 options – ready to drink chocolate milk, powder, and syrup. For simplicity, we checked the category leader – Nesquik – which has all these options available. We only had powder at home, so we went to Nesquik’s website for more info. Unfortunately, the Nesquik website does not include ingredient information, which always means there’s something to be ashamed of… Read more…

Skittles are a popular candy manufactured by Mars, Inc. Originally from the UK, the brand was brought here in the late seventies, and has nevcr looked back. The “taste the rainbow” theme has been used extensively in the brand’s marketing campaign. So what’s inside the rainbow?

What you need to know:

Here is Skittle’s ingredient list (which, by the way, does NOT appear on the Skittles website):

Sugar, Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Apple Juice from Concentrate, Less than 2% Citric Acid, Dextrin, Modified Corn Starch, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Coloring (Includes Yellow 6 Lake, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 1 Lake, Blue 1), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).

Not surprising, the first two ingredients are sugar and corn syrup (a type of sweetener).

The hydrogenated palm kernel oil is a glue to hold all that sugar together, as does the modified corn starch.

Dextrin (E1400) is a white or yellow powder produced from starch. It is used coatings and glazes, and may cause an allergic reaction.

The natural and artificial flavors are trade secrets, and NO YOU CAN’T find out what they are. But these are what give each of the skittles its lime, grape, berry, etc… flavors.

Our “favorite” part of the ingredient list is the rainbow of artificial food colorings, including no less than 9 colorants. Other countries are phasing out these colors, but America just loves children with blue and green tongues, so the FDA maintains the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status of these chemicals. For example, Red 40 is suspected of causing hyperactivity in children.

Don’t expect any nutritional value in Skittles. A single serving 2 oz pack contains 250 calories and a whopping 47 grams of sugar (that’s 12 teaspoons of sugar in a personal bag). Surprisingly, vitamin C content is 50% of the daily value, but that’s because Ascorbic acid has been added to the product. The palm kernel oil contributes 2.5 grams of saturated fat to the mix (that’s 13% of the daily value, from a candy!)

What to do at the supermarket:

There are better choices for sweet snacks. Fruits and dried fruit are at the top of the list. But even if you want something concocted in a factory, you don’t need to opt for the worst. Look for options without artificial colorings.

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Minute Maid, a subsidiary of the Coca Cola Company best known for its lines of fruit juices, has been reprimanded, albeit lightly, by the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB). NAD found that commercials for it’s “Enhanced Pomegranate Blueberry Flavored 100% Juice Blend” made memory boosting claims which are not scientifically supported.

The commercials (see above an example) are actually quite cute, but are they truthful? And what exactly is in this confusingly-long-and-hard-to-remember-product-name blend? Read more…

We’ve been following developments in nutrition rating schemes and front of package labeling for quite some time. Smart Choices is a labeling system that informs consumers which products are a nutritious choice using a green check mark as a quick glance visual cue. The selection criteria is based on nutrients in the foods, and has been defined by the food industry together with nutrition experts. This bias has created an unobjective system, whose purpose is to help sell more products under the guise of nutrition and health.

Here is a perfect example – Smart Choices has recently been spotted in supermarkets across the country on products such as breakfast cereals, including the sugary kid stuff. If we needed any further proof that this benchmark system is NOT IN THE HEALTH INTEREST of consumers,  take a look at Froot Loops, which has received the coveted “Smart Choice” checkmark. Froot Loops is manufactured by Kellogg’s, one of the members of Smart Choices.

What you need to know:

Let’s look at the Ingredient List and Nutrition Panel:

Sugar, Corn Flour, Wheat Flour, Whole Oat Flour, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (One or More of: Coconut, Cottonseed, and Soybean) (Less than 0.5 g Trans Fat Per Serving), Salt, Sodium Ascorbate and Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Reduced Iron, Natural Orange, Lemon, Cherry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Lime, and Other Natural Flavors, Red No. 40, Blue No. 2, Yellow No. 6, Zinc Oxide, Niacinamide, Turmeric Color, Blue No. 1, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Thiamin Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Vitamin A Palmitate, Annatto Color, BHT (Preservative), Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12.

The first ingredient is sugar! In fact, Froot Loops is 41% sugar by weight. And Whoa(!) partially hydrogenate vegetable oil too. Doesn’t sound like a smart choice to us. A 1 oz serving (which by the way is too small for regular people) contains 12 grams of sugar – that’s 3 teaspoons. 48 of the 110 calories per serving are from sugar.

And check out the partially hydrogenated vegetable oil – that’s trans fat folks, even if there is less than half a gram per serving, it adds up to 8 grams in a box. People should not consume ANY trans fat during the day.

Additionally, there is less than 1 oz of fiber per serving, and as you probably know, breakfast cereals are expected to be an important source of fiber.

The rainbow of artificial colors (Red No. 40, Blue No. 2, Yellow No. 6) are of a dubious nature, as some may contribute to hyperactivity in kids. Europe is twisting manufacturers’ arms to get rid of the colors voluntarily.

And another note, on marketing to kids. Froot Loops, like many other kids focused “food”, has a thoroughly entertaining website filled with games and activities, all of which are embedded with froot loops and other branding messages. What a way to burn a brand into our children’s young and impressionable minds. To ease some corporate guilt, or most likely at the advice of their legal team, Kellogg’s has a tiny disclaimer at the bottom of the page that we’re sure all kids read before playing:

KIDS: This page may contain a product or promotion advertisement.
Remember, you should get a parent’s permission before you try to buy anything online or give information about yourself.

Please, please food industry executives – stop indoctrinating our children to eat crap. You have kids too!

What to do at the supermarket:

Do not trust health claims or cutesy checkmarks and recommendations on product packages. Look at the ingredient list and the nutrition panel. There should be less than 6 grams of sugar per serving, 3 grams or more of fiber, NO partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, and no artificial food colorings.

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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…

Earlier this year, Glacéau, a subsidiary of Coca Cola, introduced yet another vitamin water, dubbed Vitamin Water 10, due to its low caloric content of [fill in the blank] calories per serving.

The “center for responsible hydration”, as Glacéau like to call itself on their flash website, informs the consumer that it’s naturally sweetened, has only 10 calories and tastes great.

Sounds like a big deal. So we went ahead and checked what all the fuss was about. Turns out there are 3 different sweeteners added to the water, not one.

Read more…

Health claims on processed food packages are usually nothing more than marketing messages. So when Kellogg’s plasters the word “IMMUNITY” in quadruple font on the front of its Rice Krispies breakfast cereal, we just have to take a peek (thanks to Fooducate reader TD for the heads up).

We took a look at the product nutrition information and at the Rice Krispies website. We’re not sure if this is a new formulation or just a new marketing campaign, but this is what Kellogg’s boasts:

“Now each and every box is fortified with vitamins and nutrients that work together to help support your child’s immunity.”

“The cereal you love, invisibly better”.

Great pitch folks. Now let’s analyze the facts…

Read more…

Image via Wikipedia

Many people reading product ingredient lists see these three names quite often. What’s the connection between them, and why do they appear so often in processed foods?

Read more…

Thank you Fooducate reader Mark G. and family for testing out 4 flavors of Crofter’s Superfruit Spreads over the past few weeks.

Crofter’s is a small Canadian company focusing on jams, jellies, preserves and spread. Everything is organic.

Earlier this spring they introduced a new line of supefruit spreads, riding on the antioxidant halo associated with these fruits. There are 4 flavors to choose from: Europe, North America, South American, and Asia. Each comes with a different fruit blend.

Here’s what Mark had to say:

My wife, my two grade-school sons, and I tested these jams out on toast, waffles, in plain yogurt, and (of course) PB&J’s.

While I can’t say I’ve been on the lookout for a “fun, new way to get my daily antioxidants,” I did appreciate that Crofter’s new Organic Superfruit Spreads contain no artificial anything. And I had to google a couple of those so-called “superfruits” (and here I thought yumberry was a Capt’n Crunch flavor), but apparently they do all really exist!

The PB&J sandwiches was the least successful use of the jams. Their flavor was just too subtle to stand up to the domineering peanut butter. You just could not taste them, and at $4.99 a jar, you want to be able to taste them!

The other applications – especially the toast – allowed the jams’ flavors (and textures) to come out much more. It was surprising just how much flavor they had when they had the spotlight to themselves.

All four jams were tasty enough – definitely worthy of the extra cost for a Sunday morning breakfast treat. But they all suffered from a sameness between them. Despite not having any evil additives, all four jams have cherries, the cherry tartness overwhelms most of what the other fruits might offer.  Out of all those “superfruits,” I would say that the blueberries and black currents held their ground the best. The black currents (paired up in the “European Blend” with the uber-trendy pomegranate) also benefited from it’s unique texture.

These are tasty sour-cherry flavored jams, but I would have liked some of the more exotic superfruits to shine a little more (unless yumberries taste exactly like cherries? maybe? who knows?). I’m always on the lookout for natural jams and jellies for me and my family, but these are a little to subtle (and too expensive) for my sons’ lunchbags. That just means more for me and the Missus to put on our toast and in our yogurt.

What you need to know:
Here’s the ingredient list for the South America blend:
Organic Fruit (Organic morello cherry, organic red grape concentrate, organic passionfruit puree, organic maqui concentrate), organic fair trade cane sugar, natural fruit pectin, ascorbic acid, citric acid.

Maqui berry is a “superfruit” from Patagonia (the chilly southern part of Argentina). Some claim it is much more potent than the revered acai berry from an antioxidant perspective.

While there are 4 fruits mentioned in the list, only the cherries come in their natural form. The other 3 are purees and concentrates, which means they’ve lost many of their health benefits by oxidation (exposure to air).

Ascorbic acid is just vitamin C.

Citric acid is a natural preservative that is used to add an acidic, sour taste to foods and beverages. Although it is naturally found in citrus fruit (oranges, lemons), industry has a found a cheaper way to manufacture it, using molds.

Nutrition label:
A serving is one tablespoon. it contains 30 calories, no fat, and 7 grams of sugar. The addition of ascorbic acid bumps up the vitamin C to 50% of the daily requirements. Unlike the fruits in their original form, these jams do not contain fiber.

What to do at the supermarket:

If you’re going to buy a jam, Crofter’s is about as nutritious as it gets. Not that jams are a major source of nutrition. But at least there are no artificial anythings. Enjoy on whole wheat toast of course.

Disclosure: Ah, the perks of food blogging…Crofter’s PR firm contacted us and offered to send  evaluation samples. We had them sent to a family of volunteer testers. We did not pay for the samples. We were not paid to post this blog nor were we instructed in any which way regarding its content. In fact, we forewarned the manufacturer that we are skeptical and scathing of most processed products available at the supermarket.

If you would like to have something new and possibly tasty sent to your house, why not become a Fooducate Product Tester? Just comment below or shoot us an email: blog [at] fooducate [dot] com.

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