Processed Food Land: Adventures in More Questionable Marketing

It's no surprise that Taco Bell may not be the only company with questionable product naming. The Healthy Eats Blog over at Food Network recently posted What's Really in Your Food?, a brief look at a few more food products questionably marketed.

Fast food places using some food-like ingredients doesn't seem like anything new. Some argue it's common knowledge. But is it really? If just one person doesn't know that when you say beef, you mean a little bit of beef and a whole bunch of other stuff, it's not right. And it leads to a slippery slope that could become confusing for more and more people as we just assume everyone knows that when this place calls a food something that's really not what it entirely is.

When a fast food restaurant uses the name "maple syrup" (like in the "What's Really in Your Food?" example), many people will probably take into consideration that there were probably some short cuts taken since the price of the food is so cheap. But will all those same people question a box that says "maple syrup" at the grocery store? Probably some still, but not all. That means a gap for even more people between what they think they're eating and what they actually are.

I'm fairly aware of processed foods and shortcuts and label-reading, yet I was still surprised by the Healthy Eats article's mention of blueberries. They're saying in cereal, some companies don't actually use blueberries despite advertising them. I'm not a really big cereal eater, so I figured that blueberries in cereal were probably just dried blueberries - probably with some preservative - so they could have a long shelf life. But Healthy Eats is saying sometimes they're really starches coated with food dye to resemble the real food.
Ick.

Blueberries (the real kind) from Jeff Kubina on the Wikimedia Commons

So here you are, thinking you're being healthy by having anti-oxidant-containing blueberries, and really you're just eating dyed starch bits.

Super. Let's derail the people who are actually making an effort to pick something healthier by tricking them and depriving them the nutrients they think they're getting.



Check ingredients whenever you can, people. And read, the full Healthy Eats article.

Note: While i think this particular Healthy Eats article has info that's good to know, I don't necessarily agree with absolutely everything they write. So keep that in mind.


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