Snacks have a pretty bad reputation, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, unless you’re eating meals that contain between 600 and 700 calories, you may not even be getting enough food to provide energy and nutrients you need without a snack here or there. Just make sure said snack consists of things like fruitsvegetables, nuts, sugar-free yogurt and low-fat protein.
Because while snacking isn’t inherently a problem, it’s best to avoid the types of foods you’re likely to associate with the term “snack.” Some snacks, like chips, cheese crackers and crackers make little attempt to position themselves as healthy. Meanwhile, other snacks try to position themselves as healthy despite having little nutritional value, and that can be even worse.
Either way, the companies behind the appetizers shown below would probably prefer you not to read the labels too closely. Are here 10 Secrets Snack Companies Would Rather You Didn’t Know about your products.
The so-called “vegetarian” chips, mainly Garden Vegetable Straws from the Sensible Portions brand, are positioned as a healthier alternative to potato chips with claims such as “30% less fat than leading potato chips” on the packaging. However, they are not even adjacent to healthy ones. And they are only marginally made from vegetables. The first three ingredients found in Garden Veggie Straws are potato starch, potato flour, and cornstarch, all high-carb, low-fiber ingredients. The “vegetable” ingredients are tomato paste, spinach powder, and beet powder that do little more than provide fun colors.
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The fact that fruit snacks are more like candy than fruit is hardly a revelation. However, the lack of nutritional value of some brands is disturbing, especially given the lengths some snack companies go to obfuscate the truth. Kellogg’s Fruity Bites, for example, cleverly uses the term “fruity” instead of fruit right in the name, when in reality the first ingredient is corn syrup, the second is sugar, and the third is “apple puree concentrate,” an ingredient hardly healthy. Meanwhile, the packaging tries to convey nutrition by highlighting things like the lack of trans fat or sodium, things you wouldn’t expect from fruit in the first place.
Dozens of staple American snacks are also popular in other countries, but are offered under other names to help boost sales. According to crushedthis includes things like Doritos Cool Ranch Chips, which are called “Cool American” in Europe, Diet Coke is called “Coke Light” in many places, Lay’s chips is called “Walkers”, the Milky Way bar is the “Mars” bar. in the UK, and so on.
According to a lawsuit filed late last year, wasabi-flavored snacks sold under the 7-11 snack private label do not contain wasabi, reported Reuters. The lawsuit alleges that the company has been charging a high price based on the alleged inclusion of the unique and expensive ingredient even though the flavor comes from cheaper alternatives.
In April 1995, a man named Carl Grady swallowed a partially chewed Dorito tortilla chip that allegedly lodged in his throat, the sharp ends of the broken chip causing so much pain and damage that Grady required immediate attention at a hospital. . , according to find law. Esophageal tears were later discovered, and Grady and his wife filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the Frito-Lay chip. Although the case was eventually dismissed, it was a dark chapter for the snack maker that lasted for several years.
According to Business InsiderA few years ago, the FDA sent Kind bar makers a stern warning that included all sorts of damning claims. Among the agency’s demands was that Kind stop claiming that its bars were high in protein and fiber, high in antioxidants and free of trans fats; all of those claims were deemed inaccurate.
Last year, unionized employees in several states went on strike against their employer, Nabisco, according to The New York Times. Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union members in Illinois, Virginia, Georgia, Colorado and Oregon protested canceled pension plans, shifts that sometimes lasted up to 16 hours, withheld overtime pay and other complaints.
In 2019, snack and beverage giant PepsiCo filed a lawsuit against four small farms in India, according to CNN. The problem? The farmers were growing potatoes. The specific potatoes in question were a variety that PepsiCo claimed were proprietary, reserved for use only in the company’s Lays brand potato chips. The giant company demanded 10 million rupees (or about US$143,000) from each of the small farms, a sum that would have ruined the meticulous operations. But PepsiCo offered to drop the lawsuit if the farmers stopped growing the specific variety of potatoes or agreed to join the company’s farming program and give up their crops.
The popcorn kernels inside a microwave popcorn bag may be safe enough, though not as healthy, but you may want to think twice about eating them. That’s because the chemicals used to line the inside of the bag could increase the risk of developing cancer, according to live strong. Many brands of the popular snack use a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid, better known as PFOA, which helps prevent grains from sticking to the inside of the bag, but can also wreak havoc on your health.
Sure, a bag of Baked Lays has less fat than a regular bag of the brand’s chips, and the same goes for brands that offer traditionally baked and fried chips. But don’t think that baked potatoes are healthy. In fact, according to Health Essentials of the Cleveland Clinic: “They are highly processed and often so low in fat that you can consume large amounts without feeling full. This can raise your blood sugar and cause a spike in insulin, which promotes fat storage.” They also tend to be high in sodium, with a 110-calorie serving of Baked Lays containing 140 milligrams of sodiumfor instance.
