Stupid food labelling. Food labelling for dummies.

jrajra Posts: 48,325
Forum Member
Two of the latest I've seen.

On a jar of peanut butter, under allergy advice. Contains peanuts!

On a pack of sausages, labelled clearly as '8 Thick Pork Sausages', approximately 8 sausages per bag!

Name yours.
«1

Comments

  • breppobreppo Posts: 2,433
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    A multi-fruit drink that claims to be made from 100% Dutch fruit (riding on the wave of nationalism that inexplicably is flooding the Netherlands in the last couple of years). The obligatory - small print - declaration however states that the drink contains no Dutch fruit.

    A Garibaldi type biscuit that claims to have a 100% fruit filling. The declaration shows there's only 3% fruit in the filling. The rest is sugar, gelatine and a trainload of E-numbers. However, a loophole in the EU food labeling regulations makes this legal. After all the filling is 100% of the filling.

    So called light products that indeed have a 30% reduction in fat that merits a "light" label, but contain enough sugar to keep a whole playgroup jumping around for days on end.
  • jrajra Posts: 48,325
    Forum Member
    Yep. You've guessed it.

    On a tin clearly labelled 'Wild Pacific pink salmon', allergy advice, 'contains fish'.

    On a packet of crisps.
    Contains : Wheat, barley, gluten.
    May contain: Milk, egg, soya, mustard.

    Well does it or doesn't it.

    It's just ridiculous.

    On my next loaf of bread it might say.

    Contains: Bread.
    May contain: A £20 note, a porn star with big tits, a 747 jet airliner, a great white shark, a tw*t called Boris, Cherie Blair's pubic hairs.

    FFS.
  • Hobbit FeetHobbit Feet Posts: 18,798
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    jra wrote: »
    Yep. You've guessed it.

    On a tin clearly labelled 'Wild Pacific pink salmon', allergy advice, 'contains fish'.

    On a packet of crisps.
    Contains : Wheat, barley, gluten.
    May contain: Milk, egg, soya, mustard.

    Well does it or doesn't it.

    It's just ridiculous.


    Potential factory contamination, it's not ridiculous when people eating it may have severe allergies.
  • jrajra Posts: 48,325
    Forum Member
    Potential factory contamination, it's not ridiculous when people eating it may have severe allergies.

    All well and good giving allergy advice, but factory contamination doesn't sit well with me. Nor do insect hairs, rodent hairs, cockroach droppings and various other things, which get into our food apparently, but are considered 'collateral damage', as in 'additional but subordinate'.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,005
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Potential factory contamination, it's not ridiculous when people eating it may have severe allergies.

    This, definitely.

    These 'I'm so clever' food labelling threads are usually written by people living in blissful ignorance of what it's like to try and eat with food allergies. Good for you if you don't need to know that something may contain traces of egg. I do, if I want to avoid a trip to hospital.

    And they wouldn't list whether a product contains things like porn stars or whatever - there's an agreed list of common allergens that have to be noted on food and for me it's a life saver. So just because you find it all a bit beneath you probably means you're very fortunate to be able to eat what you like.
  • CroctacusCroctacus Posts: 18,216
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    I like,the serving suggestions which normally just show whatever the item is shoved on a plate.
  • stud u likestud u like Posts: 42,100
    Forum Member
    Contains celery and mustard.
  • annelieseanneliese Posts: 755
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Ludicrous serving sizes so the calorie content seems a lot lower. Special K is 112 calories for a 30g portion, which if you measure it out, is less than a handful.
  • GoobyGooby Posts: 1,576
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Marks and spencers has some newish cooking sauces. The labels say - peel off for cooking instructions/recipe information.

    This annoys me intensely. I want to see the recipe there in the shop before I buy it so I can see what else I need to buy and only when I know that will I decide to buy it.

    There is no point in going home, peeling off the label and then finding you need to buy other items to go with it! Grrrrrr
  • molliepopsmolliepops Posts: 26,821
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Loubogroll wrote: »
    This, definitely.

    These 'I'm so clever' food labelling threads are usually written by people living in blissful ignorance of what it's like to try and eat with food allergies. Good for you if you don't need to know that something may contain traces of egg. I do, if I want to avoid a trip to hospital.

    And they wouldn't list whether a product contains things like porn stars or whatever - there's an agreed list of common allergens that have to be noted on food and for me it's a life saver. So just because you find it all a bit beneath you probably means you're very fortunate to be able to eat what you like.

    To be fair until I started suffering from allergies myself I didn't get the (what I saw as ) daft labelling. It's only when a tiny touch of a substance can kill you it suddenly becomes clear they are just trying to keep everyone safe.

    It's a shame the bakery departments in supermarkets don't have this attitude I was nearly killed by a fresh loaf of bread because someone handled strawberries before bagging the loaf up.
  • AbrielAbriel Posts: 8,525
    Forum Member
    Croctacus wrote: »
    I like,the serving suggestions which normally just show whatever the item is shoved on a plate.

    or maybe with a sprig of fresh pasley - just in case you expecting to peel back the lid and fins one there
  • jonnyinscotlandjonnyinscotland Posts: 999
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Gooby wrote: »
    Marks and spencers has some newish cooking sauces. The labels say - peel off for cooking instructions/recipe information.

    This annoys me intensely. I want to see the recipe there in the shop before I buy it so I can see what else I need to buy and only when I know that will I decide to buy it.

    There is no point in going home, peeling off the label and then finding you need to buy other items to go with it! Grrrrrr

    What's to stop you peeling it off in the shop?
  • KathrynhaKathrynha Posts: 642
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Contains celery and mustard.

    What's stupid about that?

    If I eat celery I get blisters all around the inside of my mouth, down my throat and in my stomach. It really isn't pleasant, and something these labels allow me to avoid
  • jojo01jojo01 Posts: 12,370
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Croctacus wrote: »
    I like,the serving suggestions which normally just show whatever the item is shoved on a plate.

    With a sprig of parsley!
  • callmedivacallmediva Posts: 1,862
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    A few years ago I bought some eggs from Tesco, on the inside of the box was a warning........

    "May contain egg"

    I should bleedin well hope so :D
  • jrajra Posts: 48,325
    Forum Member
    Loubogroll wrote: »
    This, definitely.

    These 'I'm so clever' food labelling threads are usually written by people living in blissful ignorance of what it's like to try and eat with food allergies. Good for you if you don't need to know that something may contain traces of egg. I do, if I want to avoid a trip to hospital.

    And they wouldn't list whether a product contains things like porn stars or whatever - there's an agreed list of common allergens that have to be noted on food and for me it's a life saver. So just because you find it all a bit beneath you probably means you're very fortunate to be able to eat what you like.

    This thread isn't about having a go at people allergic to certain types of food. Far from it. However, you've got to admit that putting 'contains fish' under allergy advice on a tin of fish (for example) is pretty daft to say the least.
  • molliepopsmolliepops Posts: 26,821
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    jra wrote: »
    This thread isn't about having a go at people allergic to certain types of food. Far from it. However, you've got to admit that putting 'contains fish' under allergy advice on a tin of fish (for example) is pretty daft to say the least.

    I think it may be because they have to by law.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,005
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    molliepops wrote: »
    I think it may be because they have to by law.

    Exactly. Of course we all know a tin of fish contains fish, but they have to be consistent and label absolutely everything. It means we all know where we are and can trust food labelling.

    People are not always as smart as you think - I've spoken to three different people recently who didn't know that margarine contained dairy!
  • jrajra Posts: 48,325
    Forum Member
    Loubogroll wrote: »
    People are not always as smart as you think - I've spoken to three different people recently who didn't know that margarine contained dairy!

    Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, but I find that unbelievable from my perspective, as in being at least a little bit informed.

    After all, it's just a matter of reading the ingredients in most cases.
  • degsyhufcdegsyhufc Posts: 59,251
    Forum Member
    Buffalo Mozzarella
    Contains Milk
  • GoobyGooby Posts: 1,576
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    What's to stop you peeling it off in the shop?
    because if what i saw made me decide not to buy i would feel bad about damaging something I wasn't buying.
  • CherumanCheruman Posts: 754
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    [deleted]
  • jonnyinscotlandjonnyinscotland Posts: 999
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Gooby wrote: »
    because if what i saw made me decide not to buy i would feel bad about damaging something I wasn't buying.

    Fair enough
  • grimtales1grimtales1 Posts: 46,685
    Forum Member
    On a packet of peanuts:
    Warning: Contains nuts

    :D
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,005
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    grimtales1 wrote: »
    On a packet of peanuts:
    Warning: Contains nuts

    :D

    That's because peanuts aren't nuts, they're legumes. The nuts they're referring to are tree nuts, like hazelnuts, almonds etc. This sort of labelling is really important as I'm not allergic to peanuts but I am allergic to other nuts, which means I couldn't eat your bag of peanuts. Good grief, people really need educating here! :D
Sign In or Register to comment.