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How we're scammed into eating phony food

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Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#11

Post by kevindeasis »

lucaspiller wrote: post #9

Not quite the same, but earlier this year I was working in Italy for a few months. I went back to the UK last week and it really surprised me how poor the quality of food is there. I don't mean in restaurants, but the actual ingredients you get in supermarkets. In Italy you can go into even the cheapest supermarkets and get tomatoes that smell like actual tomatoes, where as in the UK they just have no smell. Even tom…

I went to Italy once and it opened my eyes on how I should have higher standards on what I eat, when I come back home

Edit: english

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#12

Post by Capt-RogerOver »

Negitivefrags wrote: post #8

I'm glad that this article is about actual fraud rather than the much more common (and less interesting) "Processed food isn't real food" type hysteria that is much more prevalent these days.

It is more common because that problem is much more widespread and ultimately much more dangerous for the health of the victims.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#14

Post by baddox »

The author recommends a few labels from food-certifying organizations, but can't food sellers or manufacturers just slap a logo on there too? Or do these food-certifying organizations' aggressively litigate for misuse of their labels?

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#15

Post by jjcm »

Is there an app or a site that tracks brands and tests their claims of what's in their food? I'm always curious especially when buying olive oil if what I'm buying is actually real. I think the biggest issue is consumers have no way of knowing what's actually in the food they eat. If the information were readily available it'd be much harder to push food substitutes.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#16

Post by dbcooper »

From a 2011 UC Davis* report on extra-virgin olive oil sold in California:

http://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/research/files/report041211fi...

>Of the five top-selling imported “extra virgin” olive oil brands in the United States, 73 percent of the samples failed the IOC sensory standards for extra virgin olive oils analyzed by two IOC-accredited sensory panels. The failure rate ranged from a high of 94 percent to a low of 56 percent depending on the brand and the panel. None of the Australian and California samples failed both sensory panels, while 11 percent of the top-selling premium Italian brand samples failed the two panels. Sensory defects are indicators that these samples are oxidized, of poor quality, and/or adulterated with cheaper refined oils.

*"We are grateful to Corto Olive, California Olive Ranch, and the California Olive Oil Council for their financial support of this research."

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#17

Post by manmal »

baddox wrote: post #14

The author recommends a few labels from food-certifying organizations, but can't food sellers or manufacturers just slap a logo on there too? Or do these food-certifying organizations' aggressively litigate for misuse of their labels?

At least in Austria, it is like you say - nobody would dare doing this, as this would make them liable. For no really good reason at all, because people probanly cannot distinguish a trusted certificate from a made-up one anyway.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#19

Post by fludlight »

el_benhameen wrote: post #10
mirimir wrote: post #5

US restaurants need not list ingredients. But is it illegal for them to lie? That's an honest question.

In some places, yes. A few sushi spots around here were fined for using not-lobster in their lobster dishes: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-fake-lobster-r...

Eight restaurants paid a total of $19k. That's not a very strong deterrent.
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