Ingredients List on Package

[Shel_B]

I've been of the impression that a list of ingredients for any food product must be on the package. Is that, in fact, the case, or might there be some exception to the rule?

 

 A few days ago I bought a bag of frozen mango chunks at Costco.  I spent a few minutes reading everything I found on the package looking for the ingredient list, and the list was not to be found.  I even put on my reading glasses.

 

My curiosity about  the ingredients is that the mango tasted like it may have added sugar.  There seemed to be a "non-mango sweetness" to the fruit, and by the time I finished eating a bowl, my lips felt a little sticky, just as if I'd eaten something with sugar.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

[Porthos]

 

From the FDA website (http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064880.htm) page titled Guidance for Industry: A Food Labeling Guide (6. Ingredient Lists):

 

"Under FALCPA, raw agricultural commodities (generally fresh fruits and vegetables) are exempt ..."

 

Reading through the page looking for this it appears that sugar would have to be listed. However, I did not do extensive reading.

[thock]

I've always found mangoes to be sticky, whether they were raw, frozen, or dried.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I don't know about the mangoes, but information has recently popped up on my radar that canned "pumpkin" may not be what it is labeled at all. I always wondered why the pies we made from the pie pumpkins we grew were always stringer, waterier, and required a lot of reduction, and never really got as flavorful as the canned stuff. My personal preference for this type veggie custard pie is sweet potato anyways, now. No reduction necessary.

 

As for the mangoes, and this is just conjecture on my part, but often times produce destined for canning or freezing is often harvested at the peak of its development and quickly whisked into the processing system. This is why canned tomatoes are often much better than winter grocery store styromates. Frozen petite peas frequently outshine "fresh" ones in the pod, even for those lucky enough to find some commercial fresh English peas in season. Ever brought a hard peach home and have it "ripen" on the counter to a mealy, tasteless, inedible waste of money? I know you live in the land of wonderful produce, but I've sure wasted money on fresh peaches and apricots down here. I keep doing it because I remember the perfume and perfectness of the good ones. You would not believe how bad the few apricots we can get here are. Canned ones are lovely.

 

Produce sold as fresh is subject to shipping and handling delays and bruising, so often is not bred or harvested for optimum taste, but for sturdiness in travel and handling. Maybe your frozen mangoes contained more natural sugars because they were allowed to ripen to their optimum best on the tree and processed right away?

 

Who knows? You gotta love the FDA. Or NOT. 

[chromedome]

The pumpkin vs squash thing has been around for a while, and resurfaces occasionally. The whole business of what's called a pumpkin and what's called a squash is pretty random and arbitrary at the best of times, so I just use what I've got at hand. Except for jack o'lantern pumpkins, which go into the compost unless I'm really desperate. 

[Yiannos]

2 hours ago, chromedome said:

The pumpkin vs squash thing has been around for a while, and resurfaces occasionally. The whole business of what's called a pumpkin and what's called a squash is pretty random and arbitrary at the best of times, so I just use what I've got at hand. Except for jack o'lantern pumpkins, which go into the compost unless I'm really desperate. 

 

On almost every non-US cooking show I have seen, what I would call a squash here they call a pumpkin. 

[IndyRob]

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/much-sugar-mango-7628.html

 

According to that link they (mangoes) have a lot of sucrose which, if I understand correctly, is plain ol' sugar.

 

So it's probably properly labeled.  I don't think I've ever seen an ingredient list on a potato, whether or not it's in a bag.  Chunking and freezing shouldn't change much except for perception.  Freezing and thawing could cause a separation of the inherent elements that causes a different experience.

 

Of course, it could be totally fraudulent, but it would take a lot more to determine that.

Edited November 17, 2016 by IndyRob (log)

[sparrowgrass]

Pumpkins are a variety of winter squash, and there a million sizes, shapes and colors of pumpkins.  I make my pumpkin pies out of butternut squash, because it is not stringy or watery.

[Cyberider]

I use fresh mangoes from time to time and the residue is very sticky.  Can't say whether there is anything else in the frozen mango chunks but one would think it would have to state that sugar was added if it were.