A Lesson On Food Labels

Yesterday I found myself at Nugget Market, which is not one of my usual grocery stops because of its location.  I hadn't been there in a while, so I took my time going up and down the aisles looking for new all natural treats to bring home to my family.  As you can imagine, I love this hunt, but it takes a while.

At Bel Air or Whole Foods I can run in and out of the store without my Feingold 2012 Foodlist.  I know all our usual approved items and grocery shopping is easy.  But a new store, with unknown products, requires some meticulous reading of food labels.  And you can't trust food labels unless you are totally trained on what to look for.

So here are a few pointers:

1.  If a brand is known to have SOME all-natural products, you still can't trust that it has ALL all-natural products.  For example, Ghiradelli makes all natural chocolate, but not ALL of Ghiradelli chocolate is all natural - and a lot of their chocolate candy squares (raspberry, etc.) contain artificial ingredients.  The two brands I do trust, all the time:  Annie's, and Organic Valley.

2.  You want to look for labels that say "ALL NATURAL".  Then look for the fine print that usually says something like "No artificial ingredients" and "No preservatives".  The label below is a good example.

3. Beware of misleading terms like "Naturally Flavored".  If it doesn't specifically say the words "ALL NATURAL", it's hiding something.  "Naturally Flavored" instantly tells me that the product has artificial colors or contains preservatives.  Check out the Krusteaz Lemon Bars below.  The front says "Naturally Flavored" but you can see in the ingredients that there are artificial colors.  Yuck! (However Krusteaz does make an All Natural Cornbread - which makes my point for Item #1 above.)

4.  Watch out for the gotcha term of "No added preservatives" or "No added artificial ingredients".  See what they did there?  Food companies do not have to report ingredients in the ingredients they use.  For example, if they buy cream from another company to use as an ingredient in their product, they don't have to list what the ingredients are in the cream.  That word "Added" is a dead giveaway that there might have been something gross in an ingredient they purchased and used.

5.  For us Feingold parents with very sensitive kids, we also have to beware of the term "natural flavors" when listed in the ingredients.  Natural flavors could mean anything, believe it or not.  As a general rule, if a product lists "natural flavors" I consult my Feingold 2012 Foodlist or I steer clear, unless it's a brand I have grown to trust like Annie's or Organic Valley.

6.  Then there are foods that I know won't be all natural, but for some sick reason I feel compelled to check out the label.  Case in point:  Sweet Tarts.  I'll translate the ingredients list for you below the picture.

Translation:  Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Chemistry Experiment that makes things taste sour, and less than 2% of chemicals used for waterproofing, petroleum, synthetic dye using hydrocarbons from petroleum, synthetic dye used to color blue jeans, dye originally made from coal tar but now made from petroleum, synthetic azo dye known to cause the most adverse affects like migraines/depression/anxiety/blurred vision/itching/general weakness/heatwaves/sleep disturbance and is outlawed in several countries, aromatic hydrocarbons from petroleum known to cause migraines/hyperactivity/gastric upset.

So there you have it.  Don't buy Sweet Tarts.  For your children.  Ever.