Potentially Misleading Food Labeling

[nickrey]

A healthy discussion has been occurring on what is actually meant by the term free-range when applied to pigs at this link.

This led me to ponder other commonly used terms applied to food that may potentially mislead consumers unless they are adept at reading the fine print.

Some quick examples could be:

Description on package (real meaning)

low fat (high in sugar)

"light" olive oil (light in flavor not fat)

all natural ingredients (contains seaweed extract that lots of us know as MSG)

90% fat free (10% fat)

Contains 5% real fruit juice (along with 90% water and 5% chemicals for flavoring and coloring)

Just wondering what other examples people can contribute?

[highchef]

I just read something on this, but don't remember exactly where. May have been a mag in the Dr.'s office. Anyway, I was surprised to learn that msg does not have to be listed as an ingredient on the label if it is part of another ingredient. I guess there are some sort of guidelines about this (like low-carb claims etc. where they don't misrepresent as long as the product contains less than a certain percent), but if I had major allergies this would be a real pain in the butt to figure out.

[rooftop1000]

Lets make it a game

What does Celery Extract stand in for?

Tracey