Slim Posted August 10, 2004 Posted August 10, 2004 I recently contacted the office of fair trading because I was concerned that the public (including me!) was being misled when buying local bread. My worry was that a local brand was selling and advertising their bread as 'white and healthy', when it contains hydrogenated veg oils. The Food Standards Agency, an independent food safety watchdog, advises people to reduce the amounts of foods containing hydrogenated or saturated fats, as well as reduing the total amount of fat they eat. "Trans fats have no known nutritional benefits and because of the effect they have on blood cholesterol, they increase the risk of coronary heart disease. Evidence suggests that the effects of trans fats are worse than saturated fats," the FSA says on its website. In the US, hydrogenated vegetable oil has been the subject of warnings by the US National Academy of Sciences and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With these warnings in mind, does it still sound healthy? Trading standards apparently can't do anything about it though, hydrogenated veg oils are a permitted preservative. They also wouldn't comment on the use of the term 'healthy' to describe the bread, saying that because the subtance is allowed it'd be hard to say it wasn't healthy. They also say that there's no label regs for food produced on the island, which I wasn't aware of. So we have to read the labels and make our own minds up, you might want to read up on some of this stuff, it makes for pretty grim reading.
Slim Posted August 10, 2004 Author Posted August 10, 2004 I have no idea why I posted this in music, can one of the mods move it please? ta.
lectro Posted August 10, 2004 Posted August 10, 2004 Contact the ASA - Advertising Standards Authority - they're pretty good.
slinkydevil Posted August 10, 2004 Posted August 10, 2004 Just to add to Lectro's comment http://www.asa.org.uk Even if you don't complain it's worth visiting to go through some of the adjudications that have happened.
ans Posted August 10, 2004 Posted August 10, 2004 "If you feel you have been misled or offended by a non-broadcast advertisement in the UK, you can complain to us" Not being part of the UK, they will probably tell you to bugger off. Plus they suggest contacting the trading standards body for misleading advertising. You might be better launching a public awareness campaign instead.....
Slim Posted August 10, 2004 Author Posted August 10, 2004 Yep, they don't cover the Isle of Man I don't think. I'm quite naffed off really. I wasn't aware of the lack of label laws over here, seems I can peddle pretty much anything as long as it's made here and not have to comply with any regulations on labelling it's contents. I can understand the stance that hydrogenated oils are allowed though, which is probably the root of the problem. Some countries do have regs that limit the amount of Trans Fats, and denmark have banned them alltogether. Some (of course biased) info here: http://www.bantransfats.com/
FCMR Posted August 10, 2004 Posted August 10, 2004 " Not being part of the UK, they will probably tell you to bugger off. Plus they suggest contacting the trading standards body for misleading advertising. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The UK Trading Standards do and will take action on behalf of a Manx resident or company, If the product, labeling or any form of advertising has any connection with a UK company or Individual.
Slim Posted August 10, 2004 Author Posted August 10, 2004 Yep, not really a help as I don't think the breads exported.
FCMR Posted August 10, 2004 Posted August 10, 2004 Example would be if Tesco was not registered as a Manx Company, but traded on the IOM as a UK Company, for them to advertise and sell something that was not as described, they could then be reported to the UK trading standards. It becomes the problem of the last seller.
ans Posted August 10, 2004 Posted August 10, 2004 This must be the Tescos version of 'White and Healthy' that Slim is talking about then.... Do shut up.
loaf Posted August 10, 2004 Posted August 10, 2004 On a similarly irrellevant note, Mods, can I have "White and healthy" as my subtext when and if I qualify for it?
Slim Posted August 11, 2004 Author Posted August 11, 2004 That reminds me of another odd thing... Most of Ramsey Bakeryies wholemeal bread also includes hydrogenated veg oil, but for some reason the wholemeal sandwich baps don't. I'm wondering if they're just not labelled correctly, but if it is correct, how can they get by without this substance when the other wholemeal baps and things need it. I also, while I'm having a good bleat, get annoyed about the in-store baked stuff. They don't list the ingredients on any of that stuff, why not? Bleat!
ans Posted August 11, 2004 Posted August 11, 2004 Anything prepared on site doesn't legally have to have an ingredients list iirc. Can you give us any more information about these oils and how damaging they can be? I could Google it but, well, I'm a lazy spacktard.
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