THE MAGAZINE Issue 13 Volume 2. April/June 1991 • £3.50 SUGAR IN BABY ORANGE JUICE MILKS FRAUD-WE NAME THE SELLING AT THE BRANDS DOCTOR'S DENTISTS FOOD HYGIENE SLAM TV US-STYLE ADVERTS THE NATION'S , .. SMOKEY FAVOURITE BACON FOODS .­ SECRETS CHOOSINGA GLOBAL FOOD HEALTHY DIET STANDARDS THE CONTENTS NEWS COM MI SSIO N Bab ymilk EC directive allows high sugar levels 2 Advertising Dentists criticise TV adverts watchdog 3 The Food Commission is your mDSUmer watchdog on food. We Sugar ads ASA finds sugar ads 'mislead by omission' 3 are independent of the food indus­ 1TY and government and rely on Genetics New proposals allow ownership oflife forms 4 subscriptions, donations and grants for our funding. We aim to provide Irradiation Army and prison services reject irradiation 5 independently researched informa­ food standards Are EC and world standards set too low I 6 tion on the food we E'-at to ensure good quality food for all. Cyc lamates New evidence oftoxicity 6 Th~ Food Magazine is published Gum arabic International standards are too weak to prevent fraud 7 quarterly by 1b.e Food Commission. Food hygiene Is training for US food workers a model for the UK? 8 ~NOO5.}WH Party fu nds Food companies finance the Conservatives 8 C 'I.. Food C<J!IlIIIiso>!m (l'K) lld IS.i Old ""',1. (,~d" YO V' JAR Tel 07J.~ 9513 CONSUMER CHECKOUT SUPPLEMENT FiJ('Oll,~JtlI279 "}be Food Magazine Co·editors Baby foods Special 5-page investigation: Are commercial baby ~nih~ Tim l.vk!t"in foods all they claim to bel 9-13 Informati on officer Off the shelf The trade secrets of bacon smoking 14 MartinI' Drlkf' Throwing light on green potatoes 14 Researcher Ian TctkelO\'e Pure orange juice fraud 15 Subscriptions manager Britain's favourite foods 16 F""", SmM What's inside children's lunch boxes 16 o.,iill"i by Arl""",,,, ~02"1 J"I" So"ffi,]""d,,, ECI\' 4NJ Pri."'il~>dd"p"'hed by Spiderweb HEALTHY EATING FEATURE 1t-20&ls..."fJ Way,Loodon N7. Ret.1l1distriblltOC Ccntral800ks, !i'3 Wallis Rnad, lo-nelda 1::9- 51N Explodi ng US dietitian jayne Hurley explodes they myths of balance, fl~I,9l<618 >1 1 the myths variety and moderation 17 PU'fTING FOOD Barriers to Professor Aubrey Sheiham looks at the difficulties we face in QUALITY FIRST healthy eating changing our eating habits 18-19 Following Food comP4nies are giving advice in the doctors' surgeries 20-21 SUilSQijfI ... ura UK doctors orders ! 17.50indiMu>1s £35.00 orgEisatioos ~(airm3iJ) REGULARS [2S iodividtWs £4U tqtUli.sit!ons Book r,riews 12 Ywfqu_ 23 M.l1Ietpiace 2402.5 6ui.k cwdets: prices a~lable OJll'tqtJeSl LotIerI 22 TIle I.oIIg Vie. 23 Who! "'" Journals Say 26 ---_..._----------- -­ SUPPORT THE FOOD COMMISSION YES, I SUPPORT THE FOOD COMMISSION! Berome a s u ppor lf~ r aOO help ensure thai 'rhe Food Comntis$ion continues Namt Org,misalion Gfapplicable) __________ publiMing vital informatioD on 100d qua6ty and safety, W'l1 h your help we can Addres, ______________________ malt' public our research and in~'eStigati o n s and co ntinue our campaignfor s.fe, good quality food fur .lil m: WE NEED YOUR HELP! I/We enclose a supporlers donation £ _____. As a WPJXlrter yo u wiU receive free copies ofThe Food Magazine. o indjvidlJals/Small groups £25 minimum Organigtians are entitled to free bulk orders. And you will be lisl.ed as part of (i ncludes free subscription to l11e Foocl Magazine worth £17 . ~) !he network onne Food Commission. o Organisations £250 minim um" To make y{)ur l'ontribu tioD please fill in this. form and send off today to: (i ncludes free SUbscription to 'The Food ·Magazine worth.£35 and the oppor tunity Lo receive bulk copies free) Fra nces Smith, 'The Food Commission, 88 Old Street, Lnndon EelvgAR '1rJ ~ rr.ayIx N1!otQted in QSeS (I/" gen uine ~ f'bIr phone Ui. ~ EDITORIAL Diet and intelligence hatever you feel about children but they haven't the mean s. Politicians have I2king vil2min pills to improve their the means ... but have they the intellige nce? Wbrainpower one theme comes shining through. For many children their Making changes present diet leaves much to be desired. For general advice on healthy eatin g, wh ere And it doesn't I2ke much intelligence to belter to go than a doctor' Surely doctors see th e reasons why. Children are know what's good and what's bad. Yet, as we bombarded wi th daily messages for sweets, show on pages 2()'21 , GPs are nol well­ soft drinks, fast foods and highl ysugared trained on diel2ry advice, and instead many cereals. Our own survey last year showed of them rely on educational materia ls that less than ten per cent ofTV food su pplied by ... yes, the food companies. advertising to chi ldren would encou rage Balance, variety and moderation have healthy eating. Now denl2l health become the watchword s of healthy eati ng professionals are criticising U,e advertising advice. Or do they stop us thinking clearly. watchdog bodies for 'glibly disregarding' Annerican dietitian Jayne Hurley argues (on informed medical opi nion over the page 17) that these phrases are adve rtising of sweetened food and drinks to smokescreens which food manufacturers children. They want to see new restrictions hide behind to avoid the tougher advice to placed on the advertising of such foods. cut down on fat, sugar and sa lt. Eating habits start young. That is why it is Nine out of ten people in Bril2in are still so worrying to discover that even baby milks eating too much fat, and making healthy food will be permitted to conl2in up to 50 per cent choices remains difficult.. On pages 18 and 19 sugars by a new EC directive, far in excess of Professor Aubrey Sheiham loo ks at the the sugar levels in breast milk. problems people fa ce in changing to a And then there is baby food. Busy healthier diet. Whether its the power of parents are offered an attractive array of advertising, the lack of easily understood jars, tins and boxes promising their baby will information or th e cost of eating healthily­ be happy and healthy. In our special we need policies and action to make healthy Consumer Checkout report we I2ke a choices easy choices. del2iled look at just what's in these baby food s and discover that your baby might not Food fraud be getting all you think. The adulteration of leading brands of 'pure' Add ed water and thickeners are used to orange juice with waler and added sugars has bulk out the small amount of real ingredients. left shoppers angry. Angry that Many baby foods fai l to meet the minimum manufacturers canget away with sel ling uS protein and energy levels that doctors have inlerior products with th e governm ent recommended, and all failed to include the taking no legal action (see page 15). levels of meat or fi sh that on average parents As 1992 fast approaches we are becoming expect. increasingly used to th e concept of European At the very l eas~ the labels on baby meals food standards. But evidence suggests that in with meat in them should declare howmuch the rush to harmonise laws throughout the meat is actually there - just as tins of,say, Co mmunity, food sl2ndards are being set to soup Or stew have to do. But baby food s are the lowest common denominator. exempt from the meat labelling regulations. But even EC sl2ndards are likely to be We asked the Ministry why, and theysa id it overshadowed by the GAlT proposals to wouldn't be worth it because there was so liberalise world trade in foodstuffs. GAIT is little meat in the dish ' This isn't good taking us into a new era of international food enough. Babies deserve the best possible standards set by bodies that are heavi ly quality food. industr ydominated. The case of the additive. Across the country school meals are gum arabic, on page 7, illustrates where weak being axed as local authorities cutback on international standard s are perpetuating services and many children bring their own fraud and poor practice. lunches. Anew study of children's packed Gum arabic is just one of thousand s 01 lun ches (see page 16) finds crisps, chocolate substances used in food processing. 1f and soft drinks leature strongly in lunch international regulatory bodies cannot set boxes. Pocket money food is poor diel2ry adequate standards they will fail to protect quality. Children themselves cannot change consumers' int erests and public health. food policies. They may have the intelligence Sue Dibb & Tim Lobstien NEWS EC will turn baby's milk to sugar uroJ)(.-an Commission p r op~a l s mi!k.11ley could also gi,e a baby aliking lack Winkler_ 'In lacl they may be will aJlow inCant formula to lor swtel loods .nd pose a threallo the buying aproduci which is pol,nl.1ily UNICEF criticises E contain ;,o per cent sugars ­ baby's 0",1 heallh_ This breaches Ihe EC damaging: and th""'"luar ll'" ul Ihest can be dircrtiw'sownrequirement that such • rIA' 1'I~11t' &~:io\~m'!I(.'Ij..w; :k WLr.r.l::r.CltW IiA'.:'. EC directive, ,1)(llh-d;u1\aRing sucrost' and glucose infj'U\t products 'shall not contain any ~ q j'a u.l~ 'M. IJ !IId.6' N"17Al t 1Ir.1 ·22fi.I~7'!l syrup, ~b!'I i.llIc e iu such quantity as 10 nan unprecedented atta("k on the AcI.'Ordlng to thL' campaigngrO"Up endanger the health of inlanls', European Commis.:sion, the presti­ ~on and Inlormation on Sugan; (Al, ), dis ti nction between lactose and I giou s UN chiJdren's body, UNICEf, product labels will nol have to reveal rMined sugar.; sucb as sucrose and has condemned the ECbaby milk sugar cnflU'nt and can t"\'t'n claim - if glucose is critical.