Food Manufacturer Tricks

Like half of New York, we took the kids to Florida to see their grandparents over the February break.  After the 7 year old announced we could not use Grandma's jam to make the 3 year old's PB&J sandwich (high fructose corn syrup and many, many other sugars),  we headed to the grocery store.(We don't even have time to talk about the peanut butter -- which tasted like a Reese's peanut butter cup. Btw - you can buy Reese's "peanut butter". But don't.)  I start wandering the aisles of Publix reading labels since I can't find what I usually buy. I pick a strawberry jam that is mostly strawberries and basically no added sugar and then I see ---

Ohh, I think - organic! I read the ingredients:

Ingredients:  ORGANIC SUGAR, ORGANIC CONCORD GRAPE JUICE, FRUIT PECTIN, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM CITRATE.

That's right - the first ingredient is organic SUGAR. It's deceptive.  This is not good for you and using organic ingredients comes off feeling like a trick they are playing on consumers.

And by the way -- this was the jam we rejected - the packaging makes it look like an all fruit jam - but it's not. It says "pure" preserves. Watch out for meaningless advertising terms by food manufacturers.

Here are the Ingredients: Patterson Apricots, Sugar, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Pectin, Citric Acid.

Read the labels. Caveat emptor.