Yesterday we had a list of four things you see on food labels that don’t always mean what you think. And today we’ve got four more . . .
1. “Free-range” eggs. It usually doesn’t mean the chickens are running around on a farm all day. They just have to have “some access” to the outdoors. And the government doesn’t regulate it, so it might just be 10 minutes a week.
But eggs labeled as “organic” are better, because there’s a legal definition for it, and all the chickens have to have REAL access to the outdoors.
2. “Organic”, which doesn’t ALWAYS mean 100% organic. With eggs it does, but with processed food, up to 5% of the ingredients don’t have to be organic. Which isn’t much, but if you’re really trying to eat healthy, it’s good to know.
3. “Zero trans fat.” They can say it on the label even if it has half-a-gram per serving. So you have to check the ingredients and see if it has partially hydrogenated oil in it.
4. “Made with real fruit.” It doesn’t mean it’s made OF real fruit. It just means fruit was involved in the process in some vague way.
General Mills actually got sued a few years ago for saying Fruit Roll-Ups were “made with real fruit.” The box had pictures of strawberries on it . . . but the “real fruit” they were talking about was actually pear juice made from concentrate.
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