Oct 242009
 
Food Stuff

For those lucky ones living in Japan and liking sweets (I count me double lucky in this case), here an interesting blog to read.

For those able to read German, here here a web page to read about how companies use basically false advertising. Not breaking any laws, but clearly misleading. Examples:  Philadephia Cream Cheese with Tomato and Pesto. Lots of pictures of tomatoes on the package. However it contains a full 0.4% dried tomatos. And Basil-processed-cheese-paste, no pesto. Or Bertolli Pesto Verde, which is supposed to be made from Basil, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, pine seeds, garlic and salt. All those are in there, but in small amounts (in case of olive oil and pine seeds 2-2.5%). A traditional recipe I found contains 50g pine seeds, 100g cheese, 180ml olive oil, and basil leaves and salt. The one from Bertolli contains cheaper substitutes: plain plant oil and cashew nuts. Lactic acid is added to make it possible to add no further preservatives, thus stating “without preservatives” as lactic acid does not count in a legal sense as such. Fun and educational to read about how marketing and advertising exaggerate and leave out unpopular facts.