Today is National Read Your Labels Day. Every day we eat foods that have labels, and we feed our pets foods that have labels, but do we really take the time to read the information that is on those foods.
Just for today, find a label of something and actually read it. Everything on there is carefully crafted by a legal team somewhere to comply with the laws in place to make sure we, as the consumer, know what is in the products we purchase while making it feel like we are buying the healthiest options out there. We buy boxes and bags with very fresh looking meats and fruits and vegetables on them. While there is fruit and veg and meat in the products chances are that they did not look anything like the items on the front of the package. Rodney Habib recently said:
I, as the manufacturer, can take a single teeny tiny apple seed and drop it into a massive 30lb bag of pet food, and then actually list it on my ingredient panel. To add salt to the wound (pun intended) I can then splash apples all over the front of my bag. That is right, I just sold you the illusion, that you are going home with a bag full of food containing healthy, delicious apples to feed your pet and I haven't broken any rules.
This is the flaw in the rulebook that is being highly exploited by manufacturer and their marketers.
With pets in need of certain vegetables, herbs, nutraceuticals and other nutrients in their diets, owners must realize the importance of paying attention to detail.I do believe in knowing what you are eating, and what your pets are eating, and the first step is to know what they are actually telling you is in those products. Grab a box or a bag and give it a looksee.
That stuff is so frustrating, seriously, it is hard to tell what any of us are actually eating!
ReplyDeleteOkay, small comfort, but at least they'd have to list the 'apple' way down the list, right? *sigh*
ReplyDeleteThe mom reads the label on our food and doesn't know what half the stuff is!
ReplyDeleteMy human is a serious label reader - especially with cat food!
ReplyDeleteOn some of the packaging the ingredients list is so tiny mum can't even read with a magnifying glass!!
ReplyDeleteMum is a very serious label reader ! Purrs
ReplyDeleteSome people also don't realise that the main ingredient is the one listed first and it goes through the ingredients from the most included to the least included so if apple is last on the list you can be sure there is very little apple in it. I often read the ingredients but I am not normal
ReplyDeleteCan't be said enough!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I have been trying to pay more attention to the labels, it is so important.
ReplyDelete