We all like to know what's in our food, right?
Well, okay, maybe not everyone, but a lot of us.
Alright, alright. Only some of us really seem to care but our numbers keep growing every day. More of us are opting for foods that have a short and simple ingredients list and are minimally processed, if we are buying packaged processed food at all. Shoppers are becoming more informed, and are choosing to put products back on the shelf if they contain unhealthy or artificial ingredients.
Here's the problem: we can only make that choice if we're given all the information. Even things we think are healthy can have skeletons in their closet. Skeletons with vague and seemingly innocuous-sounding names.
"Spices"
"Flavoring"
"Natural Flavors"
These descriptions could mean just about anything. "Natural Flavors" can be soy-based extracts. "Flavoring" could be bat guano, for all we know. My favorite was a can of chile that listed "Spices" as the last ingredient, after just having listed separately every spice I could ever want in chile.
The other day I was in a hurry on my lunch, so instead of going to the juice counter, I opted for picking up a bottle of Naked Juice, as I am sometimes wont to do. It had a perfectly acceptable list of ingredients. Orange, carrot, apple, mango...all straightforward food, until I got to the bottom of the list to find the ubiquitous "Natural Flavors."
Well, I didn't let it bother me too much and I bought my bottle of juice and enjoyed it happily. It was tasty. But that "natural flavors" thing kept sticking in my craw. So I decided to go on Naked's website to find out exactly what "natural flavors" meant to them. Here's what it said in their FAQ:
Natural flavors contain the essential flavoring components, for example the essence or the extract, of familiar products found in nature like fruits, vegetables, and spices. These added natural flavors are made without any preservatives and are used in many of the products you consume every day.
With some of our juices, we add a minute amount of natural flavors to highlight or enhance (not overpower) the existing flavor profile of the fruits and vegetables. And, Naked Juice always discloses the addition of natural flavors.
We won't tell you what the "natural flavors" are, but we'll tell you that they're in there. I wasn't satisfied. This definition is still pretty broad, imo, and if the flavoring was so natural and familiar, why wouldn't they just say what it was on the bottle like they do with all of their other ingredients? So I decided to email them. Here's what I said:
I really enjoy your juices. My favorite is the Blue Machine. I recently bought a bottle of Orange Carrot and was wondering why you don't spell out in detail exactly what the ''natural flavors'' are in the juice. I know a lot of natural flavors are soy or corn based. I'm concerned about GMOs and want to make sure I'm consuming whole food that is as real and minimally processed as possible. If the flavoring is orange extract, why not label it as orange extract? Why the mystery?
I was happy to see that Naked responded pretty promptly to my inquiry. I wasn't as happy, though, to read what the response was.
The natural flavors in our products are components of fruit, vegetables and spices. We regret that we cannot tell you exactly what the natural flavors are since that information relates to our recipe (or formula) and is considered proprietary.
Natural flavors contain the essential flavoring components, for example the essence or the extract, of familiar products found in nature--like fruit, vegetables and spices. These added natural flavors are made without added preservatives or artificial ingredients and are used in many of the products you consume every day.
With some of our juices, we add a minute amount of natural flavors to highlight or enhance (not overpower) the existing flavor profile of the fruits and vegetables. In all cases, natural flavors make up less than one half of one percent of the product and we always discloses the addition of natural flavors on our label. Remember our trademark:
'Naked, Nothing To Hide.'
Thanks for choosing Naked Juice. Our 100% juices and juices smoothies are made from the best bare-naked fruits (all natural, no added sugar, preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, and over 3 servings of fruit in every 15.2oz bottle) just for you!
Jennifer
Naked Juice Consumer Relations
Just for MEEE?!?! Really??
Well, I have been bullshitted before in my life, and I've had to do some bullshitting, too. I recognize the sound of someone who has been told by her superiors to "Tell the client anything. Just don't tell them X."
A couple of huge red flags for me. For one, the "Eleven Secret Herbs and Spices" defense just doesn't fly. If this was some super-secret magic elixir they were adding to make their juice super yummy, wouldn't they want to hype that up somehow? Not brush it under a non-descript label buried at the end of the ingredients list?
The other thing was the whole "Nothing to Hide" malarkey. Doublespeak much? "Hiding" what's in your products is in fact exactly what you're doing, Ms. Jennifer.
Today I decided to go to the juice bar instead of buying a pre-packaged, pasteurized juice. You know what? It was really delicious, and it cost about .30 more than a bottle of Naked. I think until Naked chooses to label its ingredients more clearly, or nix the fishy ingredients altogether, me and my juicehop are going to get a lot better acquainted.