Fooducate Blog - Instead of New Pop-Tart Flavors, How About Pop-Tarts 2.0? |
| Instead of New Pop-Tart Flavors, How About Pop-Tarts 2.0? Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:58 AM PST
It’s always interesting to see what commercials will air during “The Biggest Loser”. Last night, Pop Tarts grabbed our attention with their new “Wildlicious” line of toaster pastries: Buckle up and unwrap a fusion of fruit flavor. Cherry, orange, strawberry, raspberry and blueberry-flavored fruit filling. Bright yellow frosting, orange icing drizzle and multi-colored sprinkles on top. Bright Frosting…Sprinkles…Fusion of Flavors…yummm…. Naturally we decided to investigate. What you need to know: A serving is one pop tart. It has 200 calories. For just one pastry, not two, keep in mind. The sugar count is almost 4 teaspoons (15 grams or 30% of the calories). The fiber is very low – less than 1 gram (we need 25 grams per day at least). But that’s not surprising because the main ingredient here is highly refined wheat flour, stripped of all its whole grain nutrients: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Soybean and Palm Oil (with TBHQ for Freshness), Dextrose, Contains Two Percent or less of Wheat Starch, Glycerin, Cracker Meal, Salt, Dried Cherries, Dried Apples, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Citric Acid, Corn Cereal, Gelatin, Malic Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Xanthan Gum, Modified Corn Starch, Modified Wheat Starch, Soy Lecithin, Red 40, Color Added, Turmeric Extract for Color, Yellow 6 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Vitamin A Palmitate, Niacinamide, Reduced Iron, Yellow 6, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Thiamin Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Folic Acid, Blue 1. After flour, the second, third, and fourth(!) ingredients are sugars. Ingredient number 5 is oil, preserved with TBHQ, which is a problem ingredient: TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone) is an antioxidant used to keep oils from going rancid. It is a petroleum derivative. Yummy. The food industry pushed the FDA for years to get it approved as a preservative despite the fact that ingestion of large doses (a thirtieth of an ounce) can cause nausea, delirium, and ringing of the ears. Additional goodies include trans-fat (that’s from partially hydrogenated soybean oil) and artificial colors galore. Click on the image to see the full analysis of this product on our brand new website.
Sorry, Kellogg’s. Instead of new Pop Tart flavors using the tried and true recipe for nutrition disaster, how about Pop Tarts 2.0? Something that can maintain the brand you built without slowly killing us? Use whole wheat, ditch the artificial colors, lower the sugar, add substantially more fruit. Come on, your food scientists can figure this out… What to do at the supermarket: If you need your toaster pastry fix, try whole grain options with less “evil” ingredients. Amy’s and Trader Joe’s for example. But know that in general these are not the greatest way to start the day. Get Fooducated: |
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