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Deceptive Labels Assault Us From Every Grocery Store Aisle
I haven’t bought lunch meat in ages. If we want meat on our sandwiches, we usually stick to tuna, pulled roast beef (from that cow we bought in the spring), or pulled chicken (from pastured hens we buy direct from a farmer).
But not too long ago, I actually needed to prepare a dish with deli meat for a social function. I started perusing the lunch meat aisle at the grocery store, knowing I couldn’t find anything as healthy as farm-fresh meats, but still hoping for something without added MSG, nitrites, and nitrates.
Happily, I found Hormel’s Natural Choice deli meats. The package advertises “No added MSG” and “No added nitrites or nitrates.”
When I got home and scrutinized the packaging claims more carefully, I noticed an asterisk next to the “No added nitrites or nitrates” claim. The qualifying phrase reads, “except for those naturally occurring in natural flavor.”
It sounds harmless enough, like it’s saying that there are no nitrites or nitrates in this deli meat except for what occurs naturally.
But, that’s not what it means.
You see, there’s an ingredient listed called “natural flavor.”
In other words, they’re adding nitrates and nitrates, but calling it “natural flavor.” And they’re selling this deli meat — which is essentially the same as all their other deli meat — at a premium.
This happens all the time when you buy packaged foods.
They’re deceitful.
Here are some of my other least favorite, totally deceitful labels:
“Hand gathered eggs from free-range hens.” — In order to qualify for the “free-range” label, the hens have to have a door opened up from their cages to the outside world for at least 20% of their life. If they live for 10 weeks, that means that they have access to the outside for only 2. But, growers wait until the last 2 weeks to open the cages, and guess what? The hens don’t go outside. Why? They’re afraid. They’ve never been outside their cage. And, even if they should venture out of their cages, would they be in happy, bug-filled grass? Eat insects to up the beta carotene levels and reduce the cholesterol content of their eggs? Nope. It’s just a tiny concrete sidewalk which is also caged-in and sterilized.
“Eggs gathered from cage-free hens.” — All this means is that instead of living 8 to a tiny 8 square-foot cage, the hens live in a giant warehouse. They still never see the light of day or get to eat what their god-given instincts tell them to eat. Therefore, the eggs are still total crap when compared to fresh yard eggs.
“All natural” meats — These meats are minimally processed. Some may even have labels saying “No growth hormones added” or “absolutely no antibiotics added.” Does this mean the animal was raised without growth hormones or the use of antibiotics? NO! It means that no growth hormones or antibiotics were used in processing the meat. Processing the meat is what you do after you’ve killed the animal. It’s how you turn a cow into steaks, hamburger, and roasts. Why would anyone inject growth hormones or antibiotics into meat that’s being processed? They wouldn’t. So, these meat manufacturers are selling so-called “all natural” meats — which are essentially identical to their other antibiotic-laden, disease-riddled, hormone-filled meat raised on a sickening mixture of grains and animal parts (neither of which their bodies are designed to digest) — at a premium price. The only way to get good meat is to know the cow, the pig, the chicken, and the farmer and pay to have the meat processed locally for you. (It’s also WAY cheaper this way!)
“Contains 0 grams of trans-fats” — This means that they have less than .5 grams of trans fats per serving, not that they have no trans fats. A quick check of labels clearly reveals partially-hydrogenated oils among the list of ingredients.
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It just goes to show that even when you *do* read labels carefully, you’re still probably buying crap — even if it’s “all natural” or “organic.” It’s because these people are in it for the money. They’re corporations tapping a market that’s willing to pay more, and of course they need to make money for their shareholders. The best way to get real food is to grow it yourself or know the people who grow it.
You are a prophet. This is actually really helpful in swaying me to never shop at HEB again…
yessireebob! “Natural flavor” is a catch-all term for anything they want ot put in ther but don’t want to tell us. Can also include MSG or other glutamates.
I try to buy more foods that come without packaging. Makes reading the ingredient labels much easier
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Deli-style roast beef is really easy to make, BTW. I use Shannon Hayes’ recipe for Super Slow Roast Beef in her Grassfed Gourmet cookbook. After roasting to rare, I let it cool, then chill it, then slice it as thin as I can. Beats deli counter roast beef by a mile. I’ve made it with bison, venison, and beef in round or sirloin roasts and it’s great every time!
Kristen, it just goes to show that processed food is to be avoided. But for people who do read labels carefully and are so particular, the other problem is what is NOT on the label! So many things can be added to products and never listed because it is an “industry standard.” That includes damaged cholesterol and additives that might cause allergic reactions. But the worst offender is genetically modified foods, found to be quite dangerous to health. GMOs are in 80% of processed foods in the grocery store, but it is not labeled! The only way to avoid it is to never buy conventional corn, soy, or canola products or foods that contain them. Well, almost all processed foods contain one or more. I’ll be blogging more about GMOs for our Podcast release this week. We interview Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette. I am appealing to everyone to blog on this important topic and how we must make a political stand to protect ourselves and our children from the dangers. Thanks for any support you can offer! The word must get out!
It is so important to ask questions and find out about EVERYTHING that goes into the product. I’d been buying bacon from a local farmer whose animals are all pasture-raised and finished. One day, I told him how I like his bacon better than Farmer X because it was much less salty. He said his bacon is in high demand because it is less salty. Then he said that he can do that because he adds saltpeter to his curing mix. I thought, saltpeter? Isn’t that sodium nitrate? I didn’t say anything, but when I got home I looked it up. Yup, he was adding sodium nitrate! It never occurred to me that a farmer committed to sustainable production would do that. Argh!!! Since then, I learned that you can easily reduced the saltiness of sugar-cured bacon by soaking it in water or boiling it before cooking. So it is the salty bacon for us!
Thanks for your info. I find all of this so overwhelming. I have been eating the Hormel deli meats and just couldn’t get how they were doing it so inexpenisve compared to the non-processed organic meats at Whole Foods. I finally got around to looking it up and found your site. I had to do some digging since the first 3 pages of searches were diet sites loving Hormel or positive info straight from Hormel themselves.