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From: andrea@hp-sdd.UUCP (andrea)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: on misleading food labels
Message-ID: <4800002@hp-sdd.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 14-Jan-85 15:01:00 EST
Article-I.D.: hp-sdd.4800002
Posted: Mon Jan 14 15:01:00 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 21-Jan-85 04:33:13 EST
Organization: Hewlett-Packard - San Diego, CA
Lines: 49
Nf-ID: #N:hp-sdd:4800002:000:2501
Nf-From: hp-sdd!andrea    Jan 14 12:01:00 1985

>
>/***** hp-sdd:net.consumers / orca!andrew /  8:49 pm  Jan  9, 1985*/
>I have in front of me a jar of "unsweetened Nestea (r) lemon tea mix".
>
>On the back, in fine print, the list of ingredients begins with
>"corn syrup solids".  Instant tea follows in second place, followed by
>citric acid, gum arabic, and "natural lemon flavor".
>
>So I was stupid enough to buy a jar of an "unsweetened" product whose
>primary ingredient is a sweetener.  But I'm curious ... how is it that
>they can get away with that?
>

Thanks to the current administration's dedication to "keeping government
off our backs", neither the FDA nor the FCC have enough funds to investigate,
much less fine/chastise/control such abuse.  They seem to be concentrating
what funds they have to controlling things which are "actively" harmful,
and looking the other way on this type of deception.

Of course, the FDA has long been known to stand for "foot dragging artists".
(;->)

A good watchdog/lobbying group for the food industry is the Center for
Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) which publishes Nutrition Action.
They have gone after the coffee industry for their bizarre tv ads claiming
that coffee calmed you down (!), and are working on Del Monte's current
series claiming that their canned vegetables are as nutritious as fresh 
(only true if you let the fresh vegetables sit in your fridge for two weeks
before eating!).  

Nutrition Action provides helpful consumer guidelines, recipes, nutrition
articles, etc. in addition to updates on food advertising, labelling, and
food education issues.  The current best advice is to ignore any and all
advertising claims, including that on the labels, and *ALWAYS* read the
ingredients list.  I have discovered that I am allergic to corn in all
of its forms, and practically everything processed - including things
claiming to be "natural", "organic", and "unsweetened" - have some corn
in them.  Of course, not all foods have to be labelled by law!  CSPI
has been working on that, too, and personally I feel that providing
complete and accurate ingredient information is *the* most important
issue - it may be inconvenient to have to wade through ingredients lists,
but I am willing to do so.  One can't make intelligent decisions without
intelligent information, though!


Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 487-4100 x4664
net:  {allegra|ihnp4|decvax|ucbvax}!hplabs!hp-sdd!andrea 

 ...searchlights casting for faults in the clouds of delusion