Healthy Bytes

Holy guacamole… flavoring and coloring

read time: 328 words, about two minutes

Kraft Foods is being sued by Brenda Lifsey of Southern California. The lawsuit alleges fraud because the guacamole dip made by Kraft actually contains just a wee bit of avocado… less than 2% actually.
Lifsey said “It just didn’t taste avocadoey”.

What’s in Kraft guacamole dip:
partially hydrogenated soybean and coconut oils, corn syrup, whey and food starch. Yellow and blue dyes give it the green color.

Kraft said no way were they deceiving customers. In fact Kraft’s VP of Corporate Affairs, Claire Regan said:

“We think customers understand that it isn’t made from avocado. All of the ingredients are listed on the label for consumers to reference.”

Oh my gosh.

I think what she means is:
Chose your food based on the ingredients rather than the front of the label and the hype or promise of the advertising. Yes, I believe the Kraft Food conglomerate is advocating that you - the consumer - should read the label.

If we extend the logic here, I would deduce that Kraft believes customers want avocado free guacamole. And similarly, customers want other chemical imitations of food.

Afterall, their spokes person there says customers understand the dip is some chemical avocado imitation. Customers buy it; therefore, they want chemical imitation food products. Afterall, Kraft is a for profit company. If no one wanted what they marketed… no sales, no profit, no company, thank-you, goodnight.

Thus either customers want chemical imitation food products, or, they believe they’re buying wholesome products. Either way, Kraft stays in business as is.

Funny how customer Brenda Lifsey just didn’t understand it wasn’t made from avocados. Oh and California avocado growers didn’t seem to understand either. They’ll be following the case.

Meanwhile, back in LA, you’d be hard pressed to find the marvy, lacking-in-avocado, guacamole dip on store shelves. It’s off for a label makeover.

Avocados are a great source of Vitamin E, potassium, folic acid and fiber. Guess it’s better to make your own guacamole.

This entry was posted on Tue, 5.Dec.2006 at 10:25 am and is filed under Food labels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.