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Choose vegetables over canned soup, always. Source: News Limited
BEWARE that fruit roll-up and approach that can of soup with caution: Australian researchers have found packaged foods are routinely fudging fruit and vegetable claims on labels.
They’re calling on the government to crack down on the practice by bringing the claims within the scope of the food standards code. At present, there is no limit on fruit and vegetable claims because they refer to ingredients rather than specific nutrients. The Cancer Council NSW and the University of Sydney say that has to change.
Their researchers spent days rifling though supermarket shelves and photographing the labels of about 760 juices, soups and snacks. Of the roughly 50 per cent featuring a fruit or vegetable claim, one-third failed a basic nutrition test based on sugar, salt and fat levels.
Many were found to lack the vitamins, minerals and fibre of genuine fruit and vegetables, the researchers found.
Made the list: Uncle Tobys roll-ups. Source: News Limited
One brand of fruit bar, Go Natural Twisters, which claims to have one serve of fruit a serve, was 8 grams short of the 30 grams defined as a dried fruit serve.
Uncle Toby’s Roll Ups claim to be “Made with real fruit†but the analysis found that they are in fact made of “only 25 per cent fruit, and this is ‘concentrated puree’ or ‘concentrated juice’, meaning they have none of the fibre of real fruit, and probably not the vitamins and minerals either.
“They are also sticky and sugary and not good for children’s teeth. They do not pass nutrient profiling, meaning they are not healthy enough to make a health claim.â€
Another product, Charlie’s Old Fashioned Quencher Raspberry fruit juice “made with real-life raspberriesâ€, contained 13 per cent fruit juice and 14 teaspoons of sugar.
The Charlie’s range. Source: Supplied
More: See a more detailed list of products analysed here
Co-author Clare Hughes, of Cancer Council NSW, said food companies were cashing in on the recommendation to eat two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables.
“We don’t want people to be relying on these products for their fruit and veg content,†she said. “Nothing beats the real thing.â€
She urged shoppers to ignore claims and interrogate the ingredient list instead.