Read the label before you buy.
Working
here at POM Wonderful has many benefits. A key benefit is getting a lot
smarter about the trickery many food and beverage companies use to distract
consumers. Recently, we did a product tasting and label review of a number of
the new pomegranate juice products that have hit the shelves. It was quite
enlightening and an important reminder to really pay attention to the food and
beverage products I buy.
Let’s share
our learnings, starting with the product tasting. We tried upwards of
fourteen different pomegranate “juice” products. Most tasted like an
overly sweet kids drink and several were just plain awful (as in how fast can I
spit this out!). For any one who has ever enjoyed the taste of a fresh
pomegranate, none of these products even came close to that experience.
And even worse, for those who haven’t had the pleasure of eating the
pomegranate seeds, they probably wouldn’t want to if they tried many of these
fake pomegranate juice drinks. No one came close to the distinct,
delicious taste of POM.
Even more
disturbing, though, was when we read the labels. Many of these companies
use fancy pomegranate fruit pictures on the front and bursts stating “contains
100% fruit juice.” It’s quite reasonable to believe you’re getting 100%
pomegranate juice, right? Then we’d turn over the bottles and read the
ingredients. Frequently, we’d find the first ingredient was water or apple
juice. (In case you didn’t know, it’s the law that ingredients must be listed
in the highest-to-lowest order they’re used in the product.) Somewhere
down in the ingredients listing is where pomegranate juice would be
listed. And because the company had used some pomegranate juice, they
would put the claim on the front “contains 100% fruit juice”. Legal – yes.
Right – no!
These
companies believe they can fool you – and they often do because we get so busy
we don’t take the time to read the ingredients label. But if you care
about what you put in your body, read the ingredients. Don’t be fooled by
pretty pictures and bright colored bursts on the front of the package. A
few minutes reading the labels can pay off for a life time of good
health. Healthy wishes.