Reference no: EM133046889

Beware of Health Claims on Food Packages!

We've all been fooled.  The food companies put a huge amount of money into distorting our perceptions of the food we are about to buy.  Lies?  It might be more accurate to say they use half truths, and tricks to hide the reality.

Watch the CBC Marketplace program and have a pen handy to jot down the tricks they are teaching you about health claims.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opwBw-O_UaY

1. From the Marketplace video describe three tricks you learned that food companies use to make their products appear healthier than they really are?
2. Choose a product from your own fridge or cupboard, or from the supermarket that makes health claims that you find questionable.  Include pictures of the package showing all information.
3. Write an analysis raising critical questions about the product.  Be sure to discuss the specific health claims (usually in large colourful print), the Nutrition Facts Box (which gives limited and often hard to interpret information) and most importantly the ingredients list (usually the smallest print and it has to include everything with the major ingredients first) Give as much detail as you can and use the ideas you gathered from the video, the text and the material in this module.

We are sometimes shocked at the deceptions.  Aren't there laws protecting us? People often confuse the laws covering advertising (TV, magazines etc.) with the laws covering package claims.  They are different.  Advertising is fairly strictly policed while packaging is not, hence a lot of unsubstantiated claims.

Can we change this?  We can.  Consumer activists have been fighting for years to improve labeling.  We have all benefited but there is still a long way to go.  When there is an outcry about an outrageous claim it receives media attention and the company is embarrassed enough to change the packaging. In several European countries, with strong consumer movements, they have succeeded in dialing back a lot of the rhetoric on packages with tougher laws.