This is all quite legal, of course, as long as the label specifies "fruit-flavored clusters," or something equivalent. But it's still intentionally deceptive, and a scummy corporate behavior, IMHO.The nonprofit Consumer Wellness Center reported that its investigation found "blueberries" that were nothing more than a concoction of sugar, corn syrup, starch, hydrogenated oil, artificial flavors and artificial food dye blue No. 2 and red No. 40.
The offenders are well-known manufacturers such as Kellogg's, Betty Crocker and General Mills, and the fakes were found in bagels, cereals, breads and muffins. Some products contain real blueberries mixed with fakes. For example, the blueberry bagels sold at Target contain some real berries but the "blueberry bits" listed in the ingredients aren't real blueberries...
Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats Blueberry Muffin variety has no blueberries but does have "blueberry flavored crunchies" made from the sugar-and-dye concoction mentioned above. Total Blueberry Pomegranate cereal, from General Mills, contains no blueberries and no pomegranates...
22 January 2011
Fake fruit in your cereal?
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Man, like the bad old days when they used to adulterate flour with kaolin clay and brick dust, and beer with just about any liquid at hand. Yikes! Some things never change, I guess - including greedy corporate scumbags!
ReplyDeleteGrr. This is why my personal standard of eating well is 'no weird stuff'. I *know* what goes into my homemade granola, and it tastes better than any cereal.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching a news report a very, very long time ago in which this guy who was finding out what was in the foods people buy at the grocery store. I remember one part were he pointed out that a package of apple and cinnomon bagels did not contain any apples at all! And I believe this was in the early 90's or so.
ReplyDeleteWell, I be horn-swaggled! No! Wait! We'll all be horn-swaggled. No wonder the Chamber of Commerce is leading the fight in Congress not to fund consumer protection!
ReplyDeleteCaveat Emptor. It's just another thing we share with the Romans.
ReplyDelete