What’s in What You Eat?

Today browsing the isles of Metropolitan Market I found some Microwave Kettle Corn made by Pop Secret.

Curious as always, I checked to see if and how much trans fat was in it.

One serving of this particular item contained 6 grams of trans fat. As ridiculous as that seems, it only gets worse.

In each bag, there are 3 servings, making a total of 18 grams of trans fat in a single bag.

Each box had 12 bags which means by the time the whole box is empty, whoever ate this has consumed 216 grams of trans fat.

0.5 grams is already too much, I was and still am shocked to think that a product that bad is on the shelf.

According to Amazon.com however, it is not bad at all:

“Excellent source whole grain. Good source fiber. 0 grams sugar. Sweet & Salty. 94% fat free, 2 g fat per popped serving.”

It may be whole grain, it may have fiber, and no sugar, but it at this point holds the record for the highest amount of trans fat that I have ever seen. If you find something with more, please send in an email.

http://www.amazon.com/Pop-Secret-Popcorn-Kettle-9-Ounce/dp/B00099XN4W

Today, the ban of trans fats in New York city expanded to all items served in restaurants. Previously, only oil and spreads were limited.

Any item served within the city limits must have 0.5 grams or less per serving of trans fat.

While it is not truly trans fat free, it is still less than before.

Source: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/pr2008/pr041-08.shtml

This new section is in response to the many foods that people eat thinking they are healthful for lunch. Right now, just basic common foods are in there, but more will be added in the coming weeks.

If you learned something from it, please leave a comment here!

I spoke with an employee at Whole Foods in Roosevelt Square today and he said he knew for a fact the beef served in their salad bar, deli, etc was not grass fed.

He did not know what it was fed, only that it was not grass (likely corn or grain).

I was quite surprised at this and because of it, I would suggest to seriously moderate your intake.

While Panera Bread is mostly trans fat free, it turns out they are not completely. Because of this, I have moved them on the restaurant list. Also, they are far from organic. It also turns out many of their products contain artificial colors, flavoring, and yes, high fructose corn syrup.

Even their home-made lemonade has HFCS.

Also a warning for those of you trying to lose weight, the saturated fat content of Panera Bread products is shockingly high.

This is a bummer to me as I ate there thinking everything served was healthful. The email I received from them is as follows:

Dear Gil,
Thank you for taking the time to find out how Panera deals with trans
fat and other ingredients.

Our customers’ well being is important to us at Panera. That’s why,
several years ago, we started looking into ways we could reduce or
eliminate trans fat from your favorite bakery and cafe items.

We proudly offer a menu essentially free of added trans fat. What does
this really mean?

Animal products, like dairy and meat, have small amounts of naturally
occurring trans fat. Naturally occurring trans fat cannot be entirely
eliminated.

Added trans fat - like partially hydrogenated vegetable oil - is found
in very small amounts in some food ingredients to help extend a food’s
shelf life and to stabilize food’s flavor.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has determined that foods that
have under 0.5 grams per serving of trans fat can be identified on the
Nutrition Facts Panel as having 0 grams trans fat.

You may see a few menu items listed on our nutritional information that
have 0.5 grams, 1 gram or even 1.5 grams of trans fat. These items
contain naturally occurring trans fat from butter, cheese and meats, and
a few may have very small amounts (less than 0.5 grams) of added trans
fat.

Panera is committed to exceeding its customers’ expectations for
delivering great tasting, quality food that people can trust. To this
end, Panera continues to look at ways to try to reduce or eliminate
added trans fat from its menu items.

The only item containing monosodium glutamate on the Panera menu is the
Greek Salad Dressing.

High fructose corn syrup is a widely-used and FDA-approved sweetener. We
are following the most recent scientific studies regarding its usage. To
date, there is no strong evidence to support the claims that it is
responsible for obesity or is any more or less healthy than sugar or
other sweeteners.

Any artificial coloring that we may use is also FDA approved. There are
many items on our bakery menu, however, that do not include
preservatives or artificial colors or flavors.

We have no information to share regarding interesterified fat, but if
you’d like, I can request that our nutrition group research it for you.
Let me know.

You can find nutrition and ingredients information for our products in
the Menu & Nutrition section of our website and at our bakery-cafes when
you request the information from a Manager.

Thank you again for contacting us. We appreciate your business and value
your comments.
Sincerely,
Stella
Customer Comment Coordinator

More information on their nutrition can be found here: http://www.panerabread.com/menu/

I never posted about this before but a few weeks ago, King County completed stage 1 of the trans fat ban.

Right now, oil used in fryers must contain no more than 0.5grams of trans fat per serving.

We must wait until next April before the 0.5gram restriction is broadened to all items, not just oil.

While restaurants may claim they are trans fat free by being under the 0.5 limit, on this blog, the restaurants that we say are trans fat free, are actually completely free.

I recently spoke with employees at Jet City Pizza in Seattle about their usage of trans fat.

Unfortunately they are taking advantage of the ban’s 0.5gram or less per serving rule.

Jet City Pizza uses a mix of butter and margarine in their pizza crust.

A serving is typically one slice, and I know at least when I have pizza, I rarely have just one slice.

Sorry Jet City, not only did you lose my business, but many other people I know as well.

I sent another email to AMC Theaters making sure that there wasn’t anything else bad in the popcorn (high fructose corn syrup, MSG), and I got this reply

Gil,

The nutritional information for most of our items can be found at their respective manufacturers’ websites. Our hot dogs are Oscar Mayer, our tortilla chips are Tostitos, our cheese is FunNacho, and all of our candy is name-brand.

Our popcorn is Orville Redenbacher brand popcorn seed. It is popped in a mixture of 100% coconut oil and butteral (a salt & butter blend which contains milk and soy). There are no additional ingredients in our popcorn besides what I have mentioned here.

Please let me know if I can be of any more assistance!

While milk and soy are debated non-paleo ingredients, for a fun time at the movies, this seems like very good news.

An exciting day for all late night burger craver’s:

It has come to my attention today that Dick’s Drive In in Seattle has gone trans fat free!

I sent AMC Theaters an email asking about transfats in the popcorn. This was the reply I got (and less than 24 hours after sending)

Dear Gil,

Thank you for contacting AMC Theatres. I have attached a copy of the nutritional information for our small, medium, and large sized popcorns. Our popcorn is prepared with coconut oil, which is not hydrogenated and contains no trans fats. Additionally, I wanted to let you know that we do not offer any products at our concession stand which contain trans fat.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact me directly at (800) xxx-xxxx.

Sincerely,

Nick LaBruzzo
Coordinator, Operations Excellence
AMC Theatres
Ph: (800) xxx-xxxx
Fax: (816) xxx-xxxx

I am still going to try to find an ingredients list and will post it once I have it.

The attached nutritional guide showed that there are still pretty high levels of sodium and saturated fats, but at least transfats are at a zero.