Manipulative labels
Have you ever been scanning the
isles of the grocery store and seen the label “0 grams trans fat”?
I have. And I immediately think it must be good for me if there is no fat,
right? Wrong. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case. Regardless of the various
laws the FDA has passed, companies can find a way to manipulate the system and
use certain wording to trick consumers into thinking their product is healthier
than it actually is. After realizing I have fallen for this trick a time or two
I started to wonder what else were companies keeping from me about my food. I
did some research and found out that there are quite a few things that
companies fail to advertise on their labeling.
After digging around I found that the most
talked about topic right now is environmental labeling. There are many
misleading or absence of certain environmentally related labeling on many
foods. The idea of “going green” is a hot topic in the world right now, so
companies use this to pull consumers in. Most companies claim to be
“eco-friendly” when they actually aren’t. A company can claim they are
“eco-friendly” because they reduce one environmental impact, but does that
really mean they are eco-friendly? In most cases, they are hurting the
environment in many other ways by producing their product; such as in the areas
of energy, global warming, water, or use of pesticides. One of the most common misleading
“green” labeling is “all natural.” There are a lot of things that fall under
the category of “all natural”, including the pesticides most companies pump
into their products, however they fail to explain that to the consumers.
I’m sure most, if not all, reading
this are realizing they have been tricked a time or two by these manipulative
words. To make sure you are actually getting an “all natural” or “eco-friendly”
item, take the time to pick up the product and see if they have a description
of their green effort. More than likely, if they don’t have any sort of
elaboration on their claim it means its phoney. So next time you are at the grocery store take the extra time to read the whole label so you too wont be fooled!
Here are some interesting articles that elaborate on the
problem of misleading labels!
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