Being a huge fan of ready-to-eat meals all my life, I am always on the look out for new products to try. Just the other day, I was perusing the isles during my usual grocery shopping trip and came across a new ready-to-eat lunch box. Seeing that it was on sale, I was drawn to taking a look. After checking out the products within the gopicnic lunchbox, I was sold – and bought three flavors. Being familiar with the usual high amounts of sodium, fat, and sugars in other ready-to-eat meals, I was surprised to find a different quality (and taste) in the nutrition of these gopicnic products. Quite a pleasant surprise!
gopicnic brands gopicnic ready-to-eat meals is an innovative company based out of Chicago, IL. First founded in 2006 to provide airlines in the United States with easier food for customers, gopicnic has thrived over the years and is now available in retail stores across the nation (…Food Safety Alert: Salmonella Outbreak in Chia Seeds
I have received a food safety alert from NutritionAction.com. It seems there has been an outbreak of Salmonella in Chia powder that has sickened and hospitalized people in the U.S. and Canada, over the last few days. This outbreak has led to the recall of “Organic Sprouted Chia Powder products produced by Health Matters America, Inc., … and by Navitas Naturals.” If you have purchased one of these products, throw it away or return it to the store for a refund.
The article, Food Safety Alert: International Outbreak of Salmonella in Sprouted Chia Powder by Caroline Smith DeWaal (June 18, 2014) describes the symptoms too look out for, the investigation of this outbreak, and more. If interested, read her words below:
Twenty-one people in 12 states have been sickened and two hospitalized after eating sprouted chia powder contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. In Canada, 44 have become ill and five hospitalized. Sprouted chia powder is used as a gluten-free…
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(Part 2 of 2) Catching Cunning Companies and Their Claims: Nutrition Label
How healthy is the food item for you, really? “Low in sodium”. “Heart Healthy”. “Lots of Fiber”. Companies like to make “healthy” claims on their products to pull the consumer in. However, much of the time, their claims do not mean anything to health. Consuming their product will get the consumer no closer to a healthier lifestyle, than sitting on the couch all day long. To make sure these food products are actually healthy, the nutrition label is the first stop to finding out.
The Nutrition Label will provide accurate sums of certain macronutrients, micronutrients, and vitamins and minerals contained in the food that the body consumes on a daily basis. Such nutrients include: sodium, carbohydrates (or sugars), and fats.
Fats
It is important to understand what kinds of fat are bad and what kinds are good. Trans fats and saturated fats become solids in the bloodstream, and increase levels of low-density lipoproteins, or LDL cholesterol, which hurt your heart. Too many low-d…
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(Part 1 of 3) Catching Cunning Companies and Their Claims: The Ingredient List
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…
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Catching Cunning Companies and Their Claims: Marketing Claims
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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