Thursday, April 8, 2010

Hiding The Sugar To Trick The Consumer








The large food manufacturers are sneaky. As more and more people are becoming aware of the health risks of consuming sugar, large food manufacturers, like Heinz, are going out of their way to trick consumers.

Check out this pack of ketchup. We assume tomatoes and vinegar are the main ingredients. Actually, it is sugar! A health-conscious consumer will scan the list of ingredients, knowing the first ingredient is the most prevalent. But, food manufacturers don't want to list sugar or high-fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient. So, they get around it by using two (slightly) different sugars: high-fructose corn syrup and 'regular' corn syrup, both sugar derived from corn. Now they can list "red ripe tomatoes and vinegar" as the first ingredients. Why don't they tell the truth?

Heinz Ketchup ingredients:
1. Corn syrup (with varying levels of fructose, somewhere between 50-55%)
2. Tomatoes
3. Vinegar
4. Salt
5. Spices

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