Thursday, May 24, 2007

Do You Know?

Here's a little quiz for all you label and non-label readers. Guess what the top ingredient is in this Ocean Spray White Cranberry Juice.
Optimists in the audience will answer, cranberry juice. Pessimists will go with sugar - otherwise known as High Fructose Corn Syrup.
But guess what? It's neither! It's actually water, then grape juice, with H.F.C.S. placing third, and cranberry juice trailing behind in a disappointing fourth. Good thing nobody had any money on that horse race.
There's nothing wrong with diluting cranberry juice with water - we do it all the time; but diluted, sweetened, grape juice, with trace amounts of cranberry shouldn't be called cranberry juice. A rose by any other name still smells as sweet, even sweeter with a little H.F.C.S. added; but a carnation should be called a carnation.
There is, I should mention, a small disclaimer at the bottom of the label telling shoppers the drink is "white cranberry juice drink blended with another juice from concentrate."
Another juice? What's the big mystery? What's wrong with just saying "blended with grape juice," or better yet, "blended with a whole lot of grape juice."

song: Do You Know? • artist: The Cranberries

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