A study has revealed that food producers are deluding consumers into considering items with high fat, sugar or salt content as healthy, according to ANI.
The study was conducted by Consumer Advocacy Group Choice which discovered that almost 200 products with healthy or natural sounding names contained prominent levels of fat, sugars or sodium content.
"Manufacturers are trade marking healthy words such as 'natural', 'healthy' and 'fresh' to give the impression that a product is healthier than it seems," said Choice spokeswoman Ingrid Just to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Just says that such deceptive claims cannot be made to endorse food products that are not healthy or fresh. "The manufacturers are eluding regulations by making false health claims. Trademark law prohibits the registration of a trademark likely to deceive or cause confusion, but nutritional analysis is not part of the approval of new trademarks," she explained.
There are many instances where this can be proved. According to news.com Narelle Plapp's Food For Health children's snacks, has 49.1 percent sugar and 15.2 percent saturated fat. Conventionally, anything above 5 percent is considered saturated fat. It's disheartening to know that even low calorie muesli bars contain 30 percent sugar and 10 percent saturated fat.
"Don't be deceived by the product brand names, or some of the health or nutritional claims. Look at the ingredients list, look at the information panel on the back and the grams of sugars and saturated fats per 100g," Just said. "People must be wary and not get lured by heavy words like "natural, healthy and fresh."
Food products will have to meet agreed nutritional standards in order to be labeled healthy. Food Standards Australia New Zealand is formulating criteria for health claims that would only grant these claims to be made on food products that satisfy agreed nutritional measures.
