what's really in our food?

Glaucus · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:32

anyone else watching this on bbc1? it's about food, trading law and how it's advertised. Most of it is common sense. But some of t is shocking. Like 5 out of 6 lean mince brands they tested had more fat in than labled. One was actual 18% fat with te box saying typically less than 10%.

ANyway very interesting if your not to clued up on this stuff.

dangerstat · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:34

OMFG 8% more fat!!!!!! TELL THE ENTIRE INTERNET!

Chimerical · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:35

Question is, do the public care? I mean, no matter how much people are told McDonald's (for example) is bad for them, they still eat it in their millions. Mislabeling products is wrong but I'm sure that won't put people off eating it.

Subways and supermarket sandwiches aren't supposed to be great either.

Ascendancy · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:36

dangerstat said:
OMFG 8% more fat!!!!!! TELL THE ENTIRE INTERNET!

Chimerical said:
Subways and supermarket sandwiches aren't supposed to be great either.

But accurate nutritional information is supposed to be available so people can make an informed choice.

dangerstat · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:36

Ascendancy said:

Glaucus · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:36

Chimerical said:
Question is, do the public care? I mean, no matter how much people are told McDonald's (for example) is bad for them, they still eat it in their millions. Mislabeling products is wrong but I'm sure that won't put people off eating it.

Some people do and it seems even if you read the small print you still can't tell what things are.

arknor · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:36

AcidHell2 said:
anyone else watching this on bbc1? it's about food, trading law and how it's advertised. Most of it is common sense. But some of t is shocking. Like 5 out of 6 lean mince brands they tested had more fat in than labled. One was actual 18% fat with te box saying typically less than 10%.

ANyway very interesting if your not to clued up on this stuff.

boil the mince , strain the mince = most the fat is gone now fry the mince

JBuk · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:37

dangerstat said:
OMFG 8% more fat!!!!!! TELL THE ENTIRE INTERNET!

That is a fair amount more and certainly of interest to people who try to eat healthily

Glaucus · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:37

arknor said:
boil the mince , strain the mince = most the fat is gone now fry the mince

that's not the point though is it.

Ascendancy · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:39

arknor said:
boil the mince , strain the mince = most the fat is gone now fry the mince

Why don't we just purchase the cow and go from there...

roysters · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:39

arknor said:
boil the mince , strain the mince = most the fat is gone now fry the mince

lol, wtf... just out of curiosity I have to try that.

roysters · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:40

Ascendancy said:
Why don't we just purchase the cow and go from there...

The slaughter will wake up the neighbours.

dangerstat · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:40

JBuk said:
That is a fair amount more and certainly of interest to people who try to eat healthily

Really? When something says "typically under 10%" less fat, surely that's like saying "typically women" are attractive - but you'll still come across the odd lady bigger than a small building?

JBuk · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:41

Chimerical said:
Question is, do the public care? I mean, no matter how much people are told McDonald's (for example) is bad for them, they still eat it in their millions. Mislabeling products is wrong but I'm sure that won't put people off eating it.

Subways and supermarket sandwiches aren't supposed to be great either.

A lot of people I know care about what they are eating including myself, mislabelling won't put me off anything but I'd like to think most products are reasonably accurately labelled

Glaucus · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:42

but typically is not when pretty much every one they tested came far over the stated values

Food is natural so you will get a variance. But consistently 40-80% more than the stated is not a typical value.

arknor · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:43

roysters said:
lol, wtf... just out of curiosity I have to try that.

seriously it works you will be amazed at the amount of fat you can boil out of the mince.

i personally cant stand real mince so just get quorn mince

my wife likes making real bolognaise etc though and she always boils the mince first even if its aparently "lean"

JBuk · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:43

dangerstat said:
Really? When something says "typically under 10%" less fat, surely that's like saying "typically women" are attractive - but you'll still come across the odd lady bigger than a small building?

If something said it was typically 10% fat or less then I would expect 10% to be the maximum that's in it or a tad over, 8% is quite a lot

Chimerical · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:43

JBuk said:
A lot of people I know care about what they are eating including myself, mislabelling won't put me off anything but I'd like to think most products are reasonably accurately labelled

Most people I know don't though. It honestly doesn't matter to the majority. Unless you go to farmers markets or grow your own vegetables, etc. then I can't see how you can avoid it either.

Glaucus · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:44

yep straining does work, but you lose taste and richness.

dangerstat · 14 Jul 2009 at 21:44

AcidHell2 said:
but typically is not when pretty much every one they tested came far over the stated values

Food is natural so you will get a variance. But consistently 40-80% more than the stated is not a typical value.

Well if your confident you know the standard deviation of the typical fat content of an unnamed food in the OP then fine. Otherwise, please, fat content (just like in humans) has a massive variance why shouldn't differ in this case?