Thread: Dispatches Tonight 9:00pm Ch.4 Truth about your food

Dispatches


Thursday 10 January
9:00pm - 10:00pm
Channel 4
The Truth About Your Food

Current affairs series. As the British love affair with junk food shows signs of waning in these health-conscious times, so the premium ready meals sold by supermarkets appear to represent healthier and more nutritious prospects. The major chains are certainly keen to promote this impression but, as Jane Moore investigates, a wide range of products are misleadingly labelled and often contain more calories than the supposedly unhealthy options they are replacing in the average shopping basket.

Ok that programme is doing my head in so have turned it off.

They are making the "shock" revelation that Tesco Finest stuff can have more fat in it than Tesco Value stuff, of course the posh stuff can have more fat!! They put more cream, butter, cheese and other fat stuff in it!! Hardly a big surprise.

And then to say that a calorie amount might be out by up to 20%!! What they don't say is that it is an average!!!!! You can have something 20% under.

M.

STOP THE NOISE!! They are moaning that breakfast cereal is 20% fat where all of it fat from the nuts in it!! What a biased program!!!

M.

Programmes like this pander to the lowest common denominator. It wouldn't be interesting if they reported facts would it?!

I'm watching this now. Some thoughts.

Right....first part. Yes, surprised. Surprised that they are expecting 'finest' ranges to be low fat. Also surprised that those members (who seem intelligent enough) also expected it to be low fat.

Of course it's unlikely to be. What I am expecting of premium ranges is quality ingredients.

As for whether it's healthier. Low fat or low calorie doesn't necessarily mean healthier.

Mackerel for instance...both high cal and high fat and extremely healthy.

Besides...I guess they are trying to show people that 'finest' doesn't always mean weight reducing. Guess that's obvious to most of us

And then to say that a calorie amount might be out by up to 20%!! What they don't say is that it is an average!!!!! You can have something 20% under.

Well yes, but should they get a bit closer than that? If you are going to have something stated on a label then it should be correct.

Besides...some things were as much as double what it said on the label. I think that is shocking. I don't care if other things are half what is says, there is no need for such inaccuracies.

If Cambridge malt bars have 14.9g carbs (according to my spreadsheet...might have changed), and it was tested and suddenly we find it actually has 30g carbs I should imagine most CDers would want to know why.

Hang on...adverts..need to fast forward.

20% of the items that they tested for fat were more than 20% incorrect. There is a 20% tolerance for certain levels.

Personally, I think a 20% error margin is more than adequate...in fact if anything way to big.

Some items were as much as 45% out. That's wrong.

Allbran is considered to be too salty. Again, I have to admit, that I didn't expect allbran to have too much salt Why do they add so much salt to Allbran

So what has more salt. Ready salted crisps or Allbran? Okay, working on an average portion of each. 40g allbran, 30g crisps. Both the same amount of salt. I must say I'm surprised.

I'm with you on the fat in cereals Mike. Good healthy fats, yet discussed as if they are something to avoid, but they do quickly mention that they are healthy fats, so I'll forgive them

Oooh Dorset Muesli coming up. I love than stuff What will they say..........
.......has added sugar.

Nothing new there. I knew that. That's why it's yummy

Fruit juice. Loads of sugar in concentrate juice. Yes...knew that, but I do know so many people that don't and think that it's sugar free. They mention the damage it could do to the teeth because of the acidity. Very true. My dentist hates me drinking fruit juice. Both cheap and expensive ones could cause tooth decay according to the programme...I'll go along with that.

Supermarkets boasting omega 3 added to their foods. Seems that some kinds of omega 3 (the cheaper type), have not been proven to have the health benefits. This isn't clear on the packaging.

Yes..that surprises me. Though I wouldn't necessarily go for anything because it has added omega 3, I would expect it to have the 'right' kind if they are using it as a selling point.

Hahah teehee. Moans about the supermarkets not using the traffic light labelling system Couldn't have a programme about nutrition without that coming up

Now talking about the GDA values being out of date. Nothing new there.

Okay...now obesity guy talking about how the government needs to make things clearer. Stop the supermarkets misleading the consumer. I'm all for that

To sum up at the end, they are saying premium ranges can have more fat than cheaper ones. Healthier ready meal options can have more calories than their equivilent basic range meals (I've noticed that many times, but I guess if you don't read the labels, you might be shocked to hear this). Food labelling isn't as strict as you might think.

So actually....it didn't annoy me at all Much I knew. Some I thought was nonsence. Somethings I learnt

Personally, I'm glad I watched it

Worst program ever ever ever. and it was promising

and that family with the finest range...oh my god...and the son...

there may be more calories in the 'posher' range, but is it better meat quality used? ingredients etc? it may have less fat but is that all that should be taken when buying the 'poorer' range

and the fact of the matter is simple, the so called 'poorer' range is going to taste like mush. Thats they way it is.

Ivy

Okay, I have to say I found both of your reactions to the programme surprising/interesting

For one thing, it seemed to me that they were trying to show that some foods don't contain what the average person expects.

It's not what you or I expect, but the average person that just pops off to the supermarket, buys the grub and maybe is trying to take a little more interest in the food labels these days.

Since I'm not average I don't know what the average person expects So, DH has just come in and I've asked him some questions.

He knows little about nutrition, but is intelligent enough.

First, the programme wanted to prove that most people thought premium ready meals were low fat.

I asked DH what he thought. Kept the question open. Did he expect to put weight on eating premium ready meals. He said he'd probably 'stay the same'. I asked him if he expected them to be high fat. He said 'no...not at all'.

Okay, so we know that high fat and salt often means tasty, but that wasn't what the programme was about. It was about 'educating' I suppose.

So he learnt something there. That can't be bad can it.

I also asked him if a label had 4g fat, what fat would he expect in the product. He said '4g'...our survey said 'uhhh, ooh' Okay, so I said what if they couldn't be spot on. Would it be okay if it was 5g, 6g, 3g? He said "I suppose so...can I have a coffee now"

So I asked him if it was okay if it was actually 8g. He said "no...but then it wouldn't be...they wouldn't be allowed to get away with that".

So, again..a chance to educate him

Then I asked him whether he thought there was more salt in Allbran or ready salted crisps (per portion) and he said "more in the crisps". Wrong.

Why is that a bad thing, to tell the public this as I'm sure many are unaware

Certainly wasn't the worst programme ever for me

Oh...was going to ask other questions, but he's disappeared with some feeble excuse Bless him.