When a Food Company Hides Their Harmful Ingredients

Sheila DeMare  Over the recent holidays I encountered a gourmet food company that cleverly avoided sharing their product ingredients. While doing so, they seemed to make an effort to make one of their popular items seem more natural that it was.

My grandkids were coming to visit, and knowing they loved popcorn, I thought it would be fun to have a big tin waiting for them when they arrived. Garrett Popcorn is a popular Chicago-based company that ships nationwide. It was pricey, but their popcorn comes in a colorful tin and would arrive quickly.

When I went to the Garrett Popcorn site, I didn’t see a complete list of ingredients. And, what little was provided wasn’t  easy to find.  The site boasted that the Buttery flavor was made with only “three simple ingredients: corn kernels, non-GMO coconut oil, and salt. I ordered that, and also  CheeseCorn for variety. The description for CheeseCorn featured a photo with real cheddar cheese, and these details: Preservative free, gluten free, non-GMO kernels, 0% trans fat. Allergens are noted as milk and soy.

This sounded good on first glance. But it didn’t tell the whole story. I learned that prepackaged bags of the Garrett cheese popcorn sold on Amazon are all natural. With that, I placed the order for both flavors. That was my mistake.

When the popcorn arrived, a circular sheet inside the tin had a crammed list of actual ingredients for all their flavors. There I found the hidden details:  CheeseCorn flavor has Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 dyes. These dyes are petroleum-based, and have been have been shown to trigger hypersensitivity in some people, as well being a suspected carcinogen.  Read more here.

Did you know this about Yellow 5 and Yellow 6? 

• Yellow 5 is banned altogether in Austria and Norway
• Other names for Yellow 5 include FD&C yellow no. 5, tartrazine, E102
• In the United Kingdom, warning labels are added to all products containing Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 (as well as for quinoline yellow, carmoisine, red 40 (allura red), and ponceau 4R (strawberry red). The EU warning label reads, “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”

Why is it a big deal when ingredients are hidden?

Many kids and adults are negatively affected by yellow synthetic dyes, among other colors. The public deserves to be forewarned when these are included in a product. The company did not just avoid listing ingredients, they appeared to aim to mislead the consumer.

I could not serve this cheese popcorn to my dye-sensitive grandkids. Annoyed, I contacted the company by email and asked what the ingredients were in their popcorn.  I received the runaround:

“Garrett understands the many dietary restrictions and choices and has options available to complement these choices. Here is more information regarding allergens and food sensitivities (link). You can review the Nutritional Information by Recipe at  http://www.GarrettPopcorn.com. After selecting the desired Recipe, you may view the Nutritional Information by scrolling down the page for Recipe/Nutritional Information.”

I had already checked the above sections and knew they did not have the details. I responded that they had not answered my question, and requested a refund for the cheese popcorn. This excuse came back:

“While we do not include artificial colors, yellow cheddar cheese includes dye. We do not insert that ingredient; it is inserted by the cheese manufacturer.”

Most people would agree that when it comes to an ingredient, the source doesn’t matter. If it’s in the final product, it needs to be listed. I received a refund, but was also chastised with this advice: “This is a one-time courtesy, we highly recommend doing research for a recipe before purchasing to avoid these kinds of situations.”

They are telling me to research ingredient details that are not available until after purchasing the product.

At the time of this publishing, the ingredient information is still not available by Garrett.

How additives can severely affect a child

Cameron’s story is from the Feingold website and is shared with permission. This is only one of many touching success stories that are received by the Feingold Association. The parents’ account is both heartbreaking and encouraging.

Excerpt: 

If Cameron ate petroleum-based dyes, artificial flavors, or preservatives eliminated on the Feingold Diet, he would experience these reactions: anger, body and joint pains, hives, impaired learning, ringing/buzzing in his ears, stomach pain, anxiety, rapid and loud speech, bi-polar tendencies, and the inability to follow simple directions.

Click here: Cameron: A Little Boy with No Speech and Endless Tears

______________________