Food Labels: Exposed

Food Labels: Exposed

Sold Out: You Trusted the Logo. You Should Have Read the Label.

There's a box of Annie's Shells & White Cheddar in millions of American pantries right now. Parents buy it because they trust it. The bunny logo. The word "organic." The implication that this is the good mac and cheese — the one you feel okay

Food Labels: Exposed

The Seed Oils in Everything — Processed with Hexane, Often GMO

Open any packaged food in your kitchen. Flip it over. Somewhere in that ingredient list you will almost certainly find one of these: soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, grapeseed oil, or rice bran oil. These are seed oils — sometimes called "vegetable oils,

Food Labels: Exposed

Your Vanilla Flavor Might Come From a Beaver's Glands

This is one of those food facts that sounds like an internet hoax until you look it up. There is a substance called castoreum. It is produced by beavers. It smells remarkably like vanilla. The FDA has approved it for use in food since the 1960s. And if it ends

Food Labels: Exposed

BHT, BHA, TBHQ: The Preservatives in Everything

Open your kitchen cabinet. Pull out any packaged snack — crackers, cereal, chips, a granola bar. Flip it over. Somewhere in that ingredient list, there's a good chance you'll find three letters: BHT. Or BHA. Or TBHQ. Maybe all three. These are synthetic antioxidant preservatives. Their job

Food Labels: Exposed

What "Natural Flavor" Actually Means (It's Not What You Think)

Pick up any packaged food. Flip it over. Scan the ingredient list. Somewhere near the bottom, in small print, you'll almost certainly find it: natural flavor. Or natural flavors. Two words that tell you almost nothing — and are designed to. "Natural flavor" is the fourth most

Food Labels: Exposed

The Dirty Dozen: Artificial Dyes Hidden in "Healthy" Foods

You're standing in the grocery store holding a bottle of "strawberry" flavored water. The label says natural flavors. The liquid is a vivid, almost glowing pink. No strawberry was harmed in the making of that color. What you're looking at is Red 40 — a

Food Labels: Exposed

The 60+ Names for Sugar Hidden on Food Labels

You flip over a box of granola bars and scan the ingredient list. Sugar is fourth from the bottom — that doesn't seem bad. What you don't see is that the first, second, and fifth ingredients are also sugar. They just have different names. This is called