Fruit snacks discovered to contain massive sugars
General Mills just at the end of last year was receiving praise for their efforts in the fight against obesity and children. On December 31, 2010, was lowering the amount of sugar at no higher than ten grams in cereals that were geared to kids under 12 years old.
Now it appears that General Mills has found a place to put that extra sugar they had removed from children’s cereal and jut add it into their fruit snacks. Leaving parents in rage over going their kids fruit snacks in which believed to be healthy and handing them a packet of sugar instead.
The non-profit Center for Center for Science in Public Interest (CSPI) filed a compliant Friday on behalf of North Carolina mother Annie Lam. Number one listed in this complaint; “(General Mills) for misleading consumers about the nutritional and health qualities of its fruit snacks, namely Fruit Roll-Ups® and Fruit By The Foot®, as well as other similar products”.
It has noted that General Mills is misleading the consumers by making an impression that these snacks are healthy, low in calories, fat and gluten.
Fruit snacks those soft, chewy, fruity candy like appearing snacks just may not be all that healthy. Just what is in these snacks that have consumers at full rage? Example, Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups does not contain any strawberries, but do include pear concentrate, corn syrup and other ingredients such as acetylated monoglycerides, malic acids, Red Dye 40, corn syrup, dried corn syrup, sugar and fruit pectin. Add just those together and we have a whole bunch of sugar dancing around in the children’s system.
This law suit is out to prove the point that packaging and marketing are vital when you’re trying to fool the consumer into buying sugar but dressing up as fruit.
Currently the statement the company will make is the general rule of thumb when backed into a corner by consumers “we stand behind our products and we stand behind the accuracy of labeling those products”. No further comments have been given.
That leaves the question open to the debates of children’s nutrition and product packaging and labeling. Is General Mills marketing sugar dressed up as fruit snacks and marketing them to the unsuspecting consumers? Are these snacks low in calories? Do they contain a sugar overload?
As of this morning General Mills has not been served nor or they will to make any comments at this time in regards to the pending class action suit or its marketing practices.
Now where does this leave fruit and health kids snacks? One option if you have the time make your own fruit leather. A great recipe can be found on Food Network’s Healthy Eats and the recipe allows you to use various fruits not just strawberries.
Second idea, let them choose and dip. Give any child some dip and they happy. Have a bag handy of celery, carrots, and cherry tomatoes, whatever your child loves and have some low fat dressing handy.
Parent’s Magazine online offers healthy snack ideas for kids that has just about all you can imagine from fruit smoothies to Nutty Popcorn and Fruit Mix. You can check it the article Healthy Snacks Kids and (Moms) Love online.
Health Food Stores:
19850 Mack Avenue
Grosse Pointe
313-855-5000
418 W. Willis Street
Detroit
313-831-2130
2334 Russell Street
Detroit
313-833-1560
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