Label Trickery Rant…

• Thursday, July 29th, 2010
• by CrossFit Blacksburg

I was recently hookwinked by food label nonsense so I thought I would share this story with you.  In our house, we make our own tomato sauce since most store-bought brands contain sugar and other hazards.  I usually take some cans of crushed tomatoes and a can of tomato paste - add sauteed garlic, onion, spices and let it simmer for a couple of hours.  I think you get the picture.  One fateful evening, I realized that I had no tomato paste and 2 hungry boys waiting for tomato sauce so I ran to Kroger.  In a moment of haste, I grabbed a can of seemingly innocent "Italian Style" Tomato Paste rather than plain Tomato Paste thinking that only some spices had been added to this variety of paste.  Hey, I could just skip this step at home, right?  Wrong!  The minute I opened the can, I knew I'd been had.  This tomato paste did contain some added spices but there was also a strange, glossy film over the paste - it had a funk to it.  Time to investigate the label!  Here's where it gets dicey, folks, so don't get tricked by label tomfoolery.  Food companies are out to make a buck not to make us healthy so the cheaper the ingredients and fillers, the better for their bottom line.  Check this:

Tomato Paste ingredients:
Tomatoes - yippee!

versus:

"Italian Style" Tomato Paste ingredients:

Tomato paste
Water
Sugar - why?
Salt/Spices - okay
Romano Cheese (milk, cheese, culture, salt, enzymes) - no dairy so this is out...
Soybean Oil - junk...an unhealthy fat, to boot...
Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten - filler
Wheat Gluten - filler
Soy Protein - filler
Garlic - sure!
Torula Yeast - huh?
Natural Flavor - does this really need to be added to tomatoes?!?

It's a jungle out there - be careful!