Questionable advertising

I took this photo in a Real Canadian Superstore location because I was furious and I wanted to point out how misleading marketing, especially the marketing of food, can be and how important it is to be an educated consumer.

This photo illustrates a method used constantly by the food industry. Most of us would look at this display and make an assumption that everything in that display case meets the criteria advertised ("Our stores carry the widest range of MSC and ASC certified sustainably wild-caught and responsibly farmed seafood products in Canada"). This is normal, it is what most of us do and companies know this, so they take advantage. In reality, when my husband and I looked thoroughly through that bin and read EVERY package, there was only ONE bag of fish that met the criteria advertised on that sign.

“Responsibly farmed” is quite vague, most of us don't know what that entails. To the best of my knowledge, farmed seafood is not environmentally responsible because it is the equivalent to a CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation). The only responsible seafood farming is organic and/or inland farms (for more detailed information on fish farms please read Bottomfeeder by Taras Grescoe) but I have yet to see any seafood from those farms at a supermarket.

We make this same kind of assumption over and over again in many forms. We think:

• if it is sold in a health food store it must be healthy;

• if it is gluten-free it must be healthy;

• if it is low in calories (100 calorie snack packs) it must be healthy;

• if it is made from 100% fruit juice it must be healthy;

• if it is made with 100% natural ingredients, it must be healthy…

In every case, that assumption is probably wrong.

Ingredient lists, NOT food labels

I cannot stress enough the importance of reading the ingredient list and NOT the food label (the black and white label that shows percentage and/or amounts of the macro nutrients). The most important and relevant information on any food package is the ingredient list and enables us to make better food decisions.

The food label does not tell you what type of sugar is in the food (very important). It tells you calories but not all calories are qual. The type of calorie matters and just because a food is low calorie does not mean it is healthy. We have become too preoccupied with the calorie content of food. Again, the food industry knows this and that is why you will often see the calorie count advertised on the front of a food package.

Agave—the big swindle

It seems that agave nectar has popped up everywhere lately. I recently watched this lecture on YouTube, Sugar: The bitter truth by Dr.Lustig. Dr. Lustig is an authority on sugar; he gets interviewed in almost any documentary about the food industry. His lecture is about 90 minutes long and it gets right into the science of sugars and exactly how they impact our bodies.

One of the take home messages is this: fructose is the worst kind of sugar for your body and agave is almost 100% fructose. Table sugar is 50% fructose and in that sense is "healthier" than Agave. Agave is essentially the same as high-fructose corn syrup, which has a bad reputation, yet Agave is advertised as healthy. This brings me back to my earlier point about reading the ingredient list. If a food is trying to convince you that it is healthy it probably is not.

Dr.Lustig also explains why fruit (whole fruit-not fruit juice), although a sugar, is healthy: because of the fiber content.

Are you under the influence?

Joe and I regularly tune into the Under the Influence podcast. Host Terry O'Reilly “explores why we make the shopping decisions we make, and how we are influenced by words, colours and images. He tells stories of the remarkable creativity found at the higher realms of marketing, and analyzes the ads we love to hate.”

This podcast has increased my awareness of the advertising messages I consume and how they affect my decisions about many things—including about food.