Mystery Food – Round 1

It’s a well known fact by now that I like my chocolate.  I would be the last to say that I eat all healthful foods all the time.  But for all my indulgences, the reality is that I actually do buy and eat quite a lot of healthy food.  I prefer to keep our kitchen stocked with skim milk, whole wheat bread, cheese, yogurt, fruits, leaner meats, veggies and healthy cereals.  When I buy snacks and treats, I usually try to make sure that there is something redeeming about each item, or that at least they are made from reasonably healthy ingredients.

And, being the type A that I am, I’m a bit of an obsessive label reader.  Once I started reading I couldn’t stop, but some things sneak in unnoticed or I/someone else in the house can’t resist buying them (and I know you’ll be shocked but it’s not always me!)

So we’re going to start playing a little game I’ll call Mystery Food.  I’ll write out the ingredients of something I found in the house, and we’ll all raise our eyebrows/nod smugly/recoil in horror together.

Ready?

“Ingredients:  CRUST: Wheat flour, whole oats, sugar/glucose-fructose, whole wheat flour, vegetable oil, water, chicory root (inulin), honey, dextrose, milk ingredients, wheat bran, salt, cellulose, potassium bicarbonate, natural and artificial flavour, mono and diglycerides, propylene glycol mono fatty acid esters, soy lecithin, wheat gluten, corn starch, sodium stearoyl lactylate, carageenan, guar gum.  FILLING:  Sugar/glucose-fructose, glycerin, apple puree concentrate, strawberry puree concentrate, water, blueberry puree concentrate, natural and artificial flavour, sodium alginate, raspberry puree concentrate, modified corn starch, citric acid, malic acid, methylcellulose, calcium phosphate, colours.” 

Mmmm….good, right?  And the boys wonder why I keep “accidentally” forgetting to pick up more of these.  Sheesh.

And I have a question:  with 25 ingredients in the crust, and 15 in the filling…do we really need to also write “natural and artificial flavours”?  What, 40 ingredients weren’t enough, there are actually MORE substances needed to make this resemble a tasty snack?