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by Jessica Justiniano for GreenBusinesses.com Raise your hand if quite often you find yourself confused when reading the ingredient list on a packaged food. “High-fructose corn syrup”? “Partially-Hydrogenated Oil”? “Aspartame”? Companies have no problem deceiving consumers into thinking they are purchasing something healthier, and then hiding the hurtful ingredients behind big words. Here is some insight into what you are reading on that package. The easier the ingredient list to read, the healthier this product will be. A bag of potato chips, for example, should only mention potatoes and some sort of oil (canola preferably for it’s monounsaturated fats). However, oftentimes there are many other additives included. Food companies, at least the unhealthy ones, do not like to share what ingredients are in their foods, so the ingredient list must be decoded to understand what one is consuming. Trans fat and partially-hydrogenated oil Trans fat does not have to be claimed o…

So, this morning I am shopping through my kitchen cabinet on the hunt for cereal. I come across Vanilla Chex and think, “hm, that sounds good right now.” Brandished right on the front of the box are some company claims attempting to convince the consumer, me, their product is the healthier and tastier choice. “Natural flavors”. “Gluten free”. “No artificial colors”. Companies like to make “healthy” claims on their products to pull the consumer in. These claims sometimes sound intriguing, but be warned – it is fancy jargon the corporate world likes to play with. If you do not understand what the claims mean, you can easily be led astray. Let us look into this box of Chex and figure out what its claims mean for us. Natural Flavors What do you first think of when “natural flavors” is written on your food product? I do not know about you, but I certainly think of the flavor in its simple and natural form. For example, in this vanilla Chex my first thought goes to a long and fr…

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(Part 1 of 3) Catching Cunning Companies and Their Claims: The Ingredient List

Catching Cunning Companies and Their Claims: Marketing Claims