Of course.
My brother was once exit-polled during a major election, and he deliberately gave wrong answers. I realize most people don’t do that, which is why they’re fairly accurate.
Plain Pringles (which I still think of as New Fangled Potato Chips) are one of my go-to foods when I’m sick. Yeah, I know. But I crave them sometimes!
Quite true. If they were to use FROM instead of WITH, consumers might be more likely to conclude that they’re not dealing with that notorious “bare minimum.”
Of course for accuracy they’d have to add something: “Made from real potatoes, which are fried in oil, with salt and seasonings added.” Not the snappiest of mottos.
It wouldn’t hurt to say what kind of oil they’re fried in. Peanut oil in particular could be a big problem.
Yes, due to allergies. But I think American chip makers do have to disclose the type of oil.
Of course NO choice of oil is going to turn potato chips into a health food…
Not even Olestra!
I refused to even try anything with that in it. Around that same time, Xenical, which works by blocking fat absorption in the small intestine, hit the prescription market, and I learned quickly to give them 10 capsules instead of the 90 prescribed, even if their insurance covered it, because of the nasty side effects.
The ingredient list from Cheetos is a good four times as long as the one on Lays Potato Chips. Hell, it’s longer than the Pringles list. It starts with Enriched Corn Meal, not corn. It even has MSG in it. From a processing standpoint, it is light years away from those chips.
They do. They are fried in Vegetable Oil, which they define as Sunflower, Corn and/or Canola oil. No peanut oil to be found.
Given the allergy fears around peanut anything, I’d imagine any product cooked in it would be proudly advertising that as a major feature. Also intending thereby to safely shoo away the allergic folks.
I recall a local brand of kettle-style potato chips that started up in Las Vegas while I lived there. And proudly advertised their peanut oil in big prominent print on the front of the package. Not being allergic, I thought that added a lot of good flavor. I use peanut oil in my popcorn too.
Adding to the Pringles discussion: Pringles were introduced in 1968, just in time for my older brother to return from Vietnam. He tasted one, and said, “Nope, tastes like Army dehydrated potatoes.” He probably never ate another one.
Yes, it’s definitely a processed food. But the ingredients aren’t weird unless you’re ignorant.
We’ve got corn, vegetable oil, cheese, salt, and a relatively small amount of flavoring type ingredients, the only ones of which are even remotely sketchy are things like Yellow 6, and “Natural and Artificial Flavors”. The rest are pretty much bog standard food ingredients.
The problem is that we list all the sub-ingredients, which makes the list look longer and stranger, when it’s not particularly odd. I mean, stuff like Niacin? That’s vitamin B3. Cheese cultures? Those are the bacteria used to convert milk into cheese. Corn maltodextrin? Basically a thickener made from corn starch. Not particularly weird. Monosodium glutamate? Harmless food additive made by fermentation of starch by microorganisms. Conceptually not far off from vinegar or any other fermentation derived ingredient.
Here’s the list:
- Enriched Corn Meal
- Corn Meal
- Ferrous Sulfate
- Niacin
- Thiamin Mononitrate
- Riboflavin
- Folic Acid
- Vegetable Oil
- Corn Oil
- And/Or Canola Oil
- And/Or Sunflower Oil
- Whey
- Cheddar Cheese
- Milk
- Cheese Cultures
- Salt
- Enzymes
- Salt
- Corn Maltodextrin
- Natural And Artificial Flavors
- Whey Protein Concentrate
- Monosodium Glutamate
- Lactic Acid
- Citric Acid
- Artificial Color (Yellow 6)
I no longer trust any “poll results” that don’t link to the actual study used.
I was listening to Nash Bozard’s Radio Dead Air podcast last night, when he and his guest Tara were discussing this. They said it could be used as a test to see if someone was below average in intelligence.
Really, that’s how you want to play this? I responded to you because they’re far more processed than Lay’s Potato Chips, which is kind of the impetus of this thread. I might even call the ingredients weird. Oh no!
You greatly oversimplified the ingredients in Cheetos (which just happen to be my preferred snack from the chip aisle). Sure, MSG isn’t the scary thing that it is usually made out to be. It’s also a common ingredient in ultra processed foods and is nowhere to be found in Lay’s Potato Chips, which is simply potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt. Corn maltodextrin, whey, and whey protein concentrate are other common ingredients in ultra-processed foods. They don’t even break down the artificial flavors. Again, I LIKE Cheetos and consume them far more frequently than I should. That doesn’t mean they aren’t ultra-processed garbage. If that makes me weird and ignorant, so be it. Hell, Pringles, which is jokingly referenced in this thread is less processed than fucking Cheetos.
Over the years, I worked with pharmacists who did not know that:
Lesbians menstruate
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in blood transfusions
Women do not usually produce breast milk until after they have given birth
Go figure.
Neither does the FDA. That’s why they are labeled in the US as “crisps”.
Did you intend to post this in the “You’d think everyone would know about” thread?
No, it belongs here, in response to what @Czarcasm said.
Take it easy… all I was getting at was the stupidity of the crowd who puts credence in the idea of foods having “too many ingredients” or “stuff I can’t pronounce” being necessarily bad, as if either of those makes any sense or is anything less than moronic.
The reason I brought up Cheetos is because they’re fundamentally a fried corn puff (they extrude the batter straight into the fryer) with cheese powder on it, and there are a small number of additional ingredients for making the cheese powder flow/coat better, or have better mouthfeel or whatever. I wouldn’t argue that they’re more processed than Pringles or even flavored potato chips, but rather equally so.
Nobody eats Cheetos thinking they’re a health food, but they’re not uniquely bad either. No worse than those potato chips with a few less ingredients anyway.
You used Cheetos and Doritos as your examples, both of which are what is typically considered ultra-processed. A perfectly good example of a tortilla chip, On the Border, consists of corn, vegetable oil, and salt. I have all of those things in my kitchen and use them in multiple recipes, much like potatoes.
Is your argument that Cheetos and Doritos are not ultra-processed (they are) or is it that there are no issues with ultra-processed foods?