Iffy Food Labelling

[MichaelJH]

As a Type I diabetic I have to constantly monitor my carbohydrate intake whilst maintaining a healthy diet. Yesterday I saw what was labelled as a high protein, low sugar snack and decided to take a look. Yes it was low in sugar (2gm) but total carbohydrates was 30gm. They all get converted to sugar so I gave it a miss. It's about time it was illegal for manufacturers to try and mislead people with these tactics. The sugar content was large on the front - the carbohydrates in micro-print on the back.

[dunestar]

Agree it's a total minefield. I've got into the habit of having a quick look at the back but if you are a busy person just wanting to get the shopping done it's a pain to have to study the details. Some products still don't have any information at all - eg Ben and Jerry's ice cream (oops - it's probably best we don't know!)

[shopman]

I work in retail and at least one retailer I know is pushing the Gullon range of Sugar Free biscuits as being eminently suitable for diabetics. I have taken him to task over this as the sweeteners they contain are alcohol sugars + they are between 60% & 80% carbohydrate. He says they must be OK as a nurse has said so but I've also pointed out that a general nurse is not quite the same as one who specialises in a particular food.

gullon.es/en/product/digest...

[Moonflower76 in reply to shopman]

Xylitol and erythritol are natural sugar alcohols and as far as I know have little impact on blood sugar. I use them in baking or to sweeten soya yoghurt (with a little honey too ) Its a shame not more healthy snacks are made low sugar everything contains loads of dates or glucose syrup or artificial sweetners thats why I make my own . And stevia for drinks.

[jimmyq]

One reason why I stick to Whole Foods. Any snacks I have, I make myself.

[Hidden]

Supermarket ought to be "forced" to sell whole food products more. I noticed the selection of plain firm Tofu in my supermarket was utterly poor.

Excessive packaging is still going on. Is the government doing anything to help people to regain health?

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to Hidden]

Supermarkets think only about profit - nothing more, nothing less. One supermarket near me regularly does (frozen) family meal deals. One recent one featured pizza, potato wedges, chicken nuggets and ice cream. They should be ashamed of themselves!

[Hidden]

Indeed!

[laura_dropstitch Heart Star]

Clear labelling should be more widely used, I agree. I do really like the traffic light system (so simple) but not every manufacturer uses it. I had a great conversion card that the BHF sent me, which showed the ranges for red/amber/green in g/100g etc. and it was useful (can barely read it now, it's been in and out of my purse so many times!) but still much less convenient than colour coding on packages. Might see if I can get them to send me a replacement.

I noticed in Tesco today that the reduced salt and sugar baked beans I usually buy have been replaced by differently packaged "no added sugar" beans. There was a sign up suggesting it was just new packaging, but these new beans actually have MORE salt than the "normal" beans do, which I'm sure wasn't the case before. I suspect I might be better off going for lower salt than lower sugar (?) but not sure. Really trying to keep a lid on my seven-year-old's sugar consumption so chose the no added sugar ones with her in mind...but salt is not good for kids either... It shouldn't be this hard! I do a lot of home cooking (the majority of our family's meals are cooked from scratch by me) but do use some processed items (e.g. baked beans, passata, Quorn etc...alongside loads of veg and pulses) in the majority of meals I make, and think I would find it hard to feed my family without them. Would be nice to know you were making good/healthy choices though.

This may be the most boring comment I've ever left on here - sorry! New packaging on Tesco's baked beans... 😂

[shopman in reply to laura_dropstitch]

My wife is a chef and up until 8 months or so ago I had spent 40 years being chased out of the kitchen as I was always in the way or she was falling over me. Now she can hardly walk and can only stand for 30 seconds or so at a time I am now saddled with all cooking etc. I think I can definitely burn water and really don't have a clue as to where to start - I can cook individual items but struggle to put it altogether. Main meals come mostly from M&S these days with plenty of prepared veg and the odd treat. Will find out this week how I have done as due my most recent Hba1c result and am 2 weeks into a Food for Thought class.