My 5-year-old has some dietary sensitivities that prevent her from eating anything with most artificial additives, like MSG, some preservatives, artificial flavours and colours. We were recently excited to find a box of popsicles that claimed on the outer box to be all natural, but on opening the box found the popsicles themselves individually wrapped in wrappers listing artificial flavour and colour as ingredients.
I contacted the company, and they said the outer box was correct, that they’re switching to all-natural and were just using up some old wrappers. Now, part of me is thrilled that they are going natural, as obviously this works well for my family, and also because it’s a trend I’m fond of in general.
However, most of me is absolutely pissed. Pissed that I had to take a popsicle away from a little kid because I didn’t know what was in it, pissed that I can’t trust labelling if crap like this goes on, and pissed that they are so cavalier about it.
But am I overreacting here? I mean, here they are in good faith trying to make a good move in their company, which must cost a ton, and if they can save a few bucks using old wrappers, well, that saves me in the long run, right? But then, what’s the point of including ingredient lists at all if you think it’s ok, even temporarily, to provide contradictory information?
So I don’t know, am I upset because my poor kid, who has to pass on so, so many treats due to her restrictions, was heartbroken at losing her popsicle? (They were purchased for a family get-together, so the other kids did eat them, and she had to go without), or is this a pretty crappy thing for this company to be doing?