Looks like that guy from that PR company we saw in class did his job because Kashi Products (a division of Kellogg) is removing it's NATURAL label from some of its products because they are not considered natural products and are facing a lawsuit for it. 1) What is more important your health or your money?
2) Is this a world issue?
3) How can you avoid falling into the Natural trap?
4) If this is happening with food what other lies are we being fed?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/kellogg-to-drop-all-natural-label-from-kashi-products-1.2636051
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ReplyDeleteSo regarding my health or my money, I would say that my Health is definitely more important than my money. I would rather spend money on healthier food that is better for me/ organic then go the cheaper route and waste money on unhealthy foods.This goes with my families saying "Garbage IN garbage OUT!"
I do think this is a world issue, because there is a lot of people that do just buy food products based solely on the fact that it says "natural" on it. Having the intake of these chemicals and other things that are not nutritious are terrible for the immune system and our body in general. I think in order to avoid the "natural" trap you really need to read ingredients or sometimes I know you can even look online at the companies site to read more about where they get their food from etc.
It is a scary thought to wonder, if we are being lied to about the food we are buying but I think people are starting to catch on. If we want to really be careful, things such as growing your own gardens, or going to local farms and buying their products tend to be the safest choices.
Here is another link that talks about Food companies ditching the "all natural" labels
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304470504579163933732367084
I agree with every thing you said there. I actually never though of avoiding this issue by growing your own food (I'm kicking myself for not writing it in my own post.) It is really scary to see how easily we can be tricked though. I for one will be reading my foods ingredients much more carefully now.
DeleteI agree with you Brittany, i'd much rather spend my money on healthy food because that's very important, but if companies are lying how am I suppose to know what good an what's not...
DeleteI agree, Brittany! Labels can be very misleading, the best way to know exactly what we are eating is to make an effort to try to grow your own food
DeleteI agree with your points made too, Brittany. The natural labels are so terribly misleading - if you want something authentically natural then your best bet is definitely growing your own food or at least purchase produces that are local.
DeleteI totally agree ! Everything now a days is somewhat a lie it seems which is unfortunate for those actually striving for health.
DeleteI agree with you Brittany! I much rather spend more of my money if it means I don't eat all these harsh chemicals they now put in food. It is scary to think that even stuff that say is "natural" or "healthy" isn't really. It make me really wary on what I buy and if the product is 100% giving truth to what it says on the packet.
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ReplyDeleteI chose to do this blog topic as it connects with what we had talked about the other day in class. What does Natural? Or All Natural mean on a product. Well, according to the comedic video it means very little. FDA says that it allows food companies to use the words NATURAL if the food has no added colour, artificial flavours, or synthetic substances. I don’t know about you but I think that the majority of the food that we eat should fit all of those things, so then should we be labelling things Natural? Maybe we should just say Normal, or Upfront.
In Canada, to say that a food is “organic” the food has to be made with 95-100% organic ingredients. There are other ways it can be worded to change the value slightly, but nothing under 70% can use the word organic.
In terms of Kashi and other similar products having to remove their claims of natural or organic if they’re not true, I think it only fair. I do think that if there are so many misleading labels on products, I think that we definitely need a stricter process that the companies have to go through before they can claim natural or organic in the first place. There are tons of people who have been buying these brands solely because they believed that they were truly natural.
http://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/transparency/basics/ucm214868.htm
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/labelling/food-labelling-for-industry/organic-claims/eng/1389725994094/1389726052482? chap=3#s2c3
I agree Ruth! I think it's definitely fair that these companies have to remove the Natural labels. To me though, the main thing is the government needs to put very strict restrictions that do not allow the companies to lie to their costumers. This way, there will be no need for these lawsuits to happen.
DeleteSame as Anna I agree, it's not fair for companies to false advertise to the consumers, in order to persuade them to purchase their products.
DeleteThis is my weekly post:
ReplyDeleteI chose this article because my family has been dedicated to eat healthy since I was young. Personally, I definitely think that health is much more important than money. If you think about it, without your health, there would be no money to have. I know from personal experience that if you cannot stay healthy, it is almost impossible to perform well (including in school, work and sports.), therefor you can never be truly successful. Also, personally I think that no matter how much money you have, you can never be happy without living healthily.
This is a world issue for many reasons. Firstly, since so many food related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease have become common in this time, it is important that people start eating healthier. If these people are continuously tricked into buying things they believe are healthy, it just encourages people to make bad decisions. For example, ingredients containing low calorie sweeteners are advertised all over the grocery stores. Although these sweeteners do reduce the amount of sugar in the food, the substitutes such as aspartame and sucralose can be related to many other health related issues. Also, this is an issue with false advertising. It really goes to show how companies can manipulate what they say, just to get people to buy their products. I understand that they need to make money, but risking people’s health by tricking them to earn money, is just wrong.
Personally, I have learned to avoid the falling into the Natural trap. The main thing is to learn about the food you’re eating. We need to read the ingredients of the foods we eat. My rule is that if you cannot pronounce the ingredients, it’s probably not natural. By staying informed about what you eat, you can avoid these harmful foods.
Here’s a link to a video explaining the harms of low calorie sweeteners:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvFRLIjOLOU
Great post! Good point about that you cant really live happily unless you are happy
Deletethis was a really interesting post, good job!
DeleteThis is my post for the week:
ReplyDeleteI think the most important thing is your health. Money is nice but lets be honest, you need to be healthy to live. So I would say that personal health is more important than money.
I think that this is a world issue because it shouldnt be allowed to lie about the food products that we are eating. We need to know what goes into the food we are eating and when companies lie to us saying something is all natural when it really isnt is a big problem for us.
As for falling into the natural trap, it is fairly hard not to. Certain things dont have to be labeled for our food which makes it hard to know whats really natural or not. As for things like GMO's which are still technically natural but arent the best choices for us are also hard to not fall victim to.
Who knows what other lies we hear in this world everyday. I think the best advice is take everything with a grain of salt and do your research on the topic and see what professionals are saying about it.
Here is a reference about other misleading labels in canada http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/10-misleading-food-product-labels-in-canada-1.1142301
This is actually a topic i feel very strongly about because i am so sick of wasting money on food to find out once i go home and have read the lable that it contains several ingrediants i can't pronounce or would rather not consume (aspartame). In my opinion i feel that money will always be inferior to health simply because we NEED to take care of ourselves in order to be happy, and that stems from the way we treat our bodies. Money can be a very large factor for some people considering eating healthy can sometimes be way more expensive in comparison to mr.noodles or pop. Large companies strive to get people addicted to their crappy food, addicted to their sweet or salty tastes, or even just the prices. This is especially seen in families that cannot afford to buy healthier food choices such as fresh produce or meat, because although we would all like to sit here and say health always trumps money, it is not always that easy for people. Some people are just trying to get whatever they can on the table for their children or just themselves. It really is a shame considering everyone should have access to healthy choices, especially young children. Anyways, i do believe that health is more important than money and what's even more important is that healthy choices should be more availible to those who are worse off financially, instead of just to those who are able to pay $4 for a basket of berries (which is RIDICULOUS).
ReplyDeleteI totally believe this is a world issue because of how available cheaper, and more processed foods have become to the majority of the population world wide. People need to start being more conscience of their eating habits and also their level of physical activity. So many diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease are so prevelent in today's society yet no one is willing to change. These people have been lied to their entire lives about what is healthy and what is 100% natural ingredients, when all they have to do is READ THE LABELS. It is not diffucult people, and it could save you from so much pain in the future. Diabetes is not a walk in the park.
Foods that advertise 35 CALORIES PER SERVING!!! or LOW FAT are tricking you! Most of them are either packed with sucrolose or asparatame OR processed sugars. Low calorie sugar substitutes are not trendy or healthy despite the splenda commercials. Aspartame has actually been linked to spiked blood sugars, head aches, weight gain, etc. and its because our bodies werent made to digest chemicals so it gets a little confused. I just think people really need to start researching and paying attention to what they put in their mouths as well as in their childrens, ignorance is bliss until you die of a heart attack.
I believe i have learned to read labels and do my research into what i eat which has proven to be interesting as well as very health beneficial and informative. Here is some facts about this cool paleo food plan that is yummy and is also healthy in my opinion.
http://thepaleodiet.com
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ReplyDeletePersonally, I think that health is more important than most things in the world, including money. That being said, sometimes if you do not have the money it can be healthier for you to have a larger amount of unhealthy food than an organic apple a week. Even in less extreme circumstances this can be the case. For example: my family makes an effort to be as healthy as possible but can't really afford to due the whole organic thing all of the time. We do what we can within our means in order to still fill a plate. If we were to pay the double prices that often come with organic goods, we would be eating half the amount of food. This ultimately would be less healthy.
I think that mislabelling and false advertising is a world issue, although more of a "first world problem" as it is often referred to as. We are lucky to have any food yet we complain about what it is labelled. I think the larger world issue is that the ingredients that do not fall under a "natural" label are even allowed in our foods. If an ingredient is so fake that it can't even be considered a natural ingredient, why is it something that is allowed to be produced. I understand that it is part of the world we live in now, but personally I see horribly processed foods that we are almost forced to eat as one of the larger evils of our society.
With that said, I still think the onus is on the consumer to read the list of ingredients before buying a product. The ingredients are on the back of every packaged food item and can always be read to make sure that the ingredients are in fact to your definition of natural (except for the things they don't have to mention like GMOs). On top of this, most of us have the internet at our fingertips and can easily search any ingredient or product we are uncertain about and come up with thousands of links to informative sites. Personally, the shorter and easier to understand the ingredients are, the more likely I am to buy the product.
Here is a link to site showing the top 5 ingredients that should be considered red flags when reading the back of the packaging:
http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/top-5-food-ingredients-you-should-never-eat/
I put a period instead of a question mark in the first paragraph and it is really bugging me. My mistake.
DeleteThis is my weekly post:
ReplyDeleteI definitely believe that my health is more important than the money. From a consumer's perspective, I think that most people would agree. However, I cannot speak for everyone. Most companies have proven that they care more about the money than the health of their consumers. I think that they should care more about our health, but they probably don't care about what I think either. Yes, this is a world issue because companies like Monsanto are trying to build a global monopoly. They are taking their bussiness wherever they can. Therefore it's hurting others who may even be living halfway across the world. The farmers from India that we saw in the Monsanto Documentary in class, for example. I think that all most of us can do is try to be a little more precautious about what we buy. I've seen a lot of people at the grocery store throw random items into their carts without actually knowing what they are buying. Sometimes it just helps to look at the label; try to go for companies that aren't blatantly trying to scam you into thinking their products are all natural. You may also want to do some background research on certain products. However, not everyone will have the time to research every product they want to buy at the store. This is why I suggest simply paying more attention to the labels.
Here is an interesting source I read:
http://www.gmeducation.org/latest-news/p207220-the-monsanto-monopoly.html