Food & Drink

Food Lableing

Food & Drink

Posted by: zombie

1st Mar 2010 11:59am

I have a problem with misleading food lables on nutrician. Why are so many foods labled as healthy when they are full of sugar. I'm diabetic and it frustrates me when I'm trying to shop for appropriate foods. For example many products contain more than 50gms of sugar per 100gms and they have the cheek to call that healthy food. What do you think?.


Comments 17

Anonymous
  • 27th Apr 2012 09:44am

I agree, with you I do not understand why the companies are allowed to mislead the consumer so much, surely the laws should protect us more.As a person who likes to stay at a healthy weight I find it very hard to know if the food I buy is the correct one or I am buying fattening food.no wonder the obesity rate is growing every year.

dave
  • 8th Apr 2012 11:35pm

its wrong it is a way they make more money

marianne101
  • 3rd Apr 2012 11:56am

so true, sodium content is a big one to watch out for as well!

Anonymous
  • 2nd Apr 2012 07:52am

I agree, and why are these so called healthy foods and organic foods so much more expensive. Why are foods with less sugar and less salt more expensive than the others when surely they should cost less.

Anonymous
  • 15th Jan 2012 06:20am

What annoys me is that even with my glasses you often can't read the ingredient list - it's written too small. As for the 'Healthy Heart Tick' - I know there are guidelines it must meet, but it appears if the company want to pay for the tick they can get it!

Anonymous
  • 9th Jan 2012 10:23pm

Its rather scary hey, most packaged prepared and ready to eat supermarket food is either packed with sugar or salt to make it taste good. Unfortunately the best way to get it right is to prepare it yourself.

woodie
  • 5th May 2011 05:28pm

I used to work for a company that supplied food and spent many frustrating years trying to get them to at least put what ingredients were in the food as there were many things the customers couldn't eat. It made it hard as I was in charge of making sure they got what they asked for. I asked why that particular organization didn't need correct labeling and had many excuses given to me. In the end they agreed to put allergens on the package. They would supply certain meals if ordered but on the whole, apart from opening every package separately, neither myself or the customers really new what they were getting until they opened it.

topsypat
  • 16th Feb 2011 05:33pm

I agree. Food labelling in Australia should be more specific. I hate the label of "Made from Local and Imported products". What part is imported? Who knows. Unfortunately we have to read the back of every product purchased. Even then it is not always clear what is in the product anyway. It is particularly difficult for people like Zombie who has to watch her sugar content.. Who should we approach regarding food labelling?

Proteus
  • 8th Jan 2011 11:18am

While I will be the first to admit that I do not read the labelling on food products, I can understand why others do. As to the labelling, well in my opinion it is always clever marketing by food companies to lure you to buy their product, and to do this they use devious tricks like the words "Low Fat" etc. I'm of the opinion that no matter what we buy in todays world, the labelling and advertising for the products is all mainly hype and false. The claims some products make are remotely believable, and yet we all buy the products because of labelling. Yes it is time for the labelling laws to be corrected, but more importantly, isn't it time that food companies were held accountable for the false and misleading labeeling and claims they make for their products??

arneis
  • 20th Dec 2010 07:27pm

I agree! I have a friend who has been poisoned by aspartame (artificial sweetener) and now only has to consume a tiny amount to be affected with seizures and psychotic behaviour...but the labels use numbers 950,951 in tiny printing which is hard to read in good light, almost impossible to read most of the time. The big print says 'no added sugar' which sound healthy but for my friend it is very dangerous!

Chucklespope
  • 7th Dec 2010 12:07pm

They get away with murder. I bought something the other day, cos I didnt have my glasses on I didnt read what was written. Its said it was an orange juice (in powder form) with no added sugar, preservatives and something else. My daughter picked it up and read out the ingredients to me when I got home and there wasnt 1% orange juice in it. Just a list of chemicals and sugar

StudyBug
  • 4th Aug 2010 03:53pm

There is also apparently some dodgy loop hole regarding labelling - don't quote me, but I think if it is less than 5% of the total contents they aren't obliged to put it in the label. This allows all sorts of additives, flavours, etc to be added.

turkeyknees
  • 14th May 2010 07:17pm

i think companies should put honest labels on their food labels of the nutritional value etc.i have a diabetic mum and also a couple of my friends are diabetic and this would make their lives and shopping experiences so much easier and better:)

LUV-A-TIGER
  • 21st Apr 2010 09:47pm

Yes.. it is very frustrating and its deceiving when they say its natural but only to find that has full of sugar..
Or they say 99% real fruits when its only misleading..
It is very hard what you can believe to buy this day..

Anonymous
  • 24th Jan 2012 05:34pm
Yes.. it is very frustrating and its deceiving when they say its natural but only to find that has full of sugar..
Or they say 99% real fruits when its only misleading..
It is very hard...

I agree when they say something is 99% free the forget to tell you how much sugar is in it. the amount of sugar should also be on the front in large print !!!

neety
  • 21st Apr 2010 02:19pm

I always read the labels and see what exactly is in the food. There are certain levels of fat, sugar and salt that is acceptable for each serving of food, for it to be labelled 'low'. But each country is different. Check and see what your government recommends and then you can work out for yourself what is healthy. Don't always rely on the labels - its just marketing.

Shay-Dee
  • 1st Mar 2010 07:35pm

I totally agree with you. I think there is a fine line between what they can and can't get away with. I think they should say natural or refined sugar levels as well, like they had to with saturated fats, trans fats etc.

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