Inventive alternatives to declaring 'sugar' as ingredient.

Food manuafacturers are using synonyms to avoid putting the word 'sugar' on their packaging but I have not come across this before:

How about

'All natural evaporated cane juice'

found on Westminster Oyster Crackers http://westminstercrackers.com/

Could be an attempt to distinquish it from refined sugar.

[Robin Garr]

Could be an attempt to distinquish it from refined sugar.

And to distinguish it from high fructose corn syrup! With increasing attention being given to the corning of America, I think this is what they are after; and you're likely onto something too, Brian, that they want to establish it as a naturally produced cane sugar. I don't find it troublesome at all. I'm happy to know that, and it might influence my buying decision.

(In similar fashion, when I rarely drink a sweet soft drink, I'll go for a "hecho en Mexico" Coke made with cane sugar in an instant over the U.S.-made HFCS model. You CAN taste the difference.

A couple of movies to watch: Food Inc. and King Corn. They may just alter your eating habits.

Peter, I think Brian and Robin have probably nailed what the Westminster Oyster Cracker marketeers had in mind. As I understand it, though, the FDA's definition of "juice" in the term "evaporated cane juice" includes the possibility of refined sugar syrup. So while it's meant to sound less refined (and therefore presumably healthier) there's no way to know if it actually is. I've run into this on other products' ingredient labels where I could detect no trace of the molasses-y flavor you'd think you'd find in unrefined sugar, which makes me suspicious the "juice" that was indeed already refined before it was evaporated. Also, the word "natural" is widely abused on US food labels, having practically no meaning at all beyond "not synthetic".

In the more category of truly unrefined evaporated sugar juice, muscovado and demerara are two sugars I believe fall in that category with which you are probably familiar.

(In similar fashion, when I rarely drink a sweet soft drink, I'll go for a "hecho en Mexico" Coke

Sir, please turn in your locavore credentials.

[Robin Garr]

Sir, please turn in your locavore credentials.

I thought that article I posted yesterday demonstrates that I am a situational locavore. I have a preferential option for the local, as long as it is better than the alternative.

(In similar fashion, when I rarely drink a sweet soft drink, I'll go for a "hecho en Mexico" Coke

Sir, please turn in your locavore credentials.

I LSHIPMP!

My assumption is that is was to avoid using sugar or syrup or any word that implied sweetening, the way some products proclaim on the label 'no added sugar' then you read that grape or apple juice is an ingredient -- both highly sweet and obviously added soley for sweetening.

If the intention was to highlight an unrefined sugar then I'd have thought that 'unrefined sugar ' would be more clearly understood. I read the statement twice before recognising it meant sugar then I laughed at their inventiveness.

I agree with Robin.

Question: What's wrong with corn syrup?

Answer: It's in everything!!!!

Question: What's wrong with corn syrup?

Answer: It's in everything!!!!

Carl,

I am not offering this as truth, but it might clarify somewhat.
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4157

I am not offering this as truth, but it might clarify somewhat.
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4157

Bob, my point is not that corn syrup is better of worse than other forms of sugar. My point is that practically every finished food product has some in it. Therefore people don't realize how much they are ingesting. I've seen pasta sauce where it was the second ingredient listed after tomatoes. That's why we make things from scratch.

Speaking of which... why do so many makers of jar sauce put sugar in it? Are they using bad tomatoes and have to make it up? Or are they just anticipating the famous American sweet tooth?

I am not offering this as truth, but it might clarify somewhat.
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4157

It is true that Americans eat too much food. However, I think there is also some evidence that fructose/glucose are digested differently from sucrose. There is some evidence that the breakdown of sucrose sends a "full" signal to the brain, which does not happen with the others. There is also the recent Princeton report:
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/
And, finally, there is my intrinsic distrust of agribusiness lobbies... if the lobbyist says 'yea' then the truth is almost certainly something else.

[Robin Garr]

And, finally, there is my intrinsic distrust of agribusiness lobbies... if the lobbyist says 'yea' then the truth is almost certainly something else.

Yeah, the Internet is an amazing place, but all its "facts" aren't equal. To use it well, it's best to bring your own critical faculty to the party.