Healthytarian Living presents host Evita Ochel with special guest Allison Jorgens, discussing how to understand the claims, facts and regulations when it comes to food labels.
Allison Jorgens is a professional home economist holding a degree in nutritional sciences. She has been working as a food label specialist for grocers and food manufactures in Canada for nearly a decade. Over the past ten years, Allison has reviewed thousands of food labels for many of Canada’s leading grocery brands. And she is the author of the newly released book Read it With a Grain of Salt.
Topics covered in the video include:
- what does “read it with a grain of salt” mean
- is it legal to sell food without labels, and how do some producers do it
- how front package claims can be misleading
- the role of images on food products, and how they can be misleading
- why the list of ingredients is the most important part of the food label to read
- is everything we see on the ingredients label all there is
- understanding the presence of hidden ingredients
- the significance of the order of ingredients listed on food packages
- how additives at the end do not mean they are in least amount
- what are class names, and why they are important
- what hides in things like modified milk ingredients, natural flavours, etc.
- how having zero of something does not mean the product is fully free of it, ex. 0 trans fats
- how do companies come up with nutrient numbers
- why don’t nutrient numbers always match up
- why the labels have vitamin A, C, calcium and iron only listed typically
- how to understand missing nutrients
- what each consumer can do to empower themselves and help the system
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