foodcheck
eating right made easy
The Illusion of Transparency
The supermarket aisle is a marketing battleground for influence on our eating habits. Our foods are cloaked in labels crafted not to inform, but to entice and often mislead. Food labels serve as the primary communication between food producers and consumers, but this communication is frequently one-sided.
The Ingredients List
Food Companies use strategic marketing language designed to highlight the most minimal health benefits while conveniently omitting less favorable details. Perhaps the most direct route to transparency is through the ingredients list, where the truth is often hidden in plain sight among complex chemical names and numbers. We need to not only read these lists but to understand them. This means recognizing every ingredient, questioning its purpose, and researching its effects.
Decoding the Label
To truly decipher the labels, one must become literate in the language of labeling, which includes understanding the nuances of food regulation and the gaps that exist within these frameworks. Like, the ingredients list does not neccesarily include the amounts of each item. By regulation, ingredients are listed in order from the BIGGEST to the SMALLEST amount. If fat or sugar are listed as the first or second ingredient the food is likely to be HIGH in fat or sugar and is recommended to only be eaten sometimes. SOMETIMES SUGAR AND FAT ARE LISTED USING OTHER NAMES. Other names for FAT: oil, vegetable/animal oil/fat, coconut oil, palm oil, shortening, lard, milk solids. Other names for SUGAR: sucrose, maltose, lactose, dextrose, fructose, glucose, glucose syrup, corn syrup, molasses, malt, maltodextrin, fruit juice concentrate. Will an average consumer ever be able to decipher this complex information regularly on most things he/she buys? No, they can't. But Maybe technology can help.
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