Don’t Be Fooled By These New Grocery Products

Is fall a season for new food products? I noticed many *NEW* items at the grocery store this week. These three caught my attention, but ultimately disappointed.

The worst offender was the Yoplait® Simplait yogurt.

Having “just 6 simple ingredients” is nothing to brag about when a few of them don’t belong in yogurt in the first place!

(Reading the rest of the label confirmed that the “cultured” milk includes live active yogurt bacteria cultures).

And the nutrition information as a whole is not very impressive.

Yoplait® Simplait has more calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates and sugar and less protein than the fruit-on-the bottom Chobani® flavors. The pictures here are from the strawberry flavor, but it was basically the same for the vanilla and peach flavors that also were on the shelf.

The second product that caught my attention was in the snack food aisle.

I have issues with the Special K® brand because most of the products are highly processed, refined carbs, devoid of fiber, and bound to leave any dieter **starving**.  These are no exception. How can a product based on popcorn–which is a whole grain and a good source of fiber–have less than 1 gram of fiber in a 28 gram serving?

A closer look at the product description provides the answer. The only thing “popcorn” about this product is the packaging–and the artificial butter flavor:

Grab a satisfying serving of 28 chips for 120 calories. With the delicious taste of buttery popcorn and an irresistible crunch, you’ll never miss the greasy variety again.

The ingredient list confirms that this is yet another highly processed food product:

MILLED CORN, VEGETABLE OIL (CANOLA OIL WITH TBHQ FOR FRESHNESS, PALM OIL, SUNFLOWER OIL), CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF SALT, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CORN GERM, DEXTROSE, NONFAT MILK, MALTODEXTRIN, BUTTER (CREAM, SALT), ANNATTO EXTRACT FOR COLOR, DISODIUM INOSINATE, DISODIUM GUANLYATE.

The last product made me laugh at its prominent gluten-free labelling.

Is it really that hard to find gluten-free deli meat? What is hard to find is deli meat that does not have added sugar, but since I do like that “honey ham” flavor it doesn’t stop me from putting it in my cart.

Have you noticed any new products in your grocery store recently?

Do you read the labels before you buy something new?