Food/Groceries

Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

“Does Not Contain High Fructose Corn Syrup”

High fructose corn syrup is a dirty word to many shoppers. They have heard that the body doesn’t digest and absorb the fructose in this cheap sugar substitute the way ordinary sugar is metabolized. The liver is forced to convert the fructose into fat, and we get the urge to eat more.

No wonder a number of products have reformulated their brands and tout the fact that they no longer contain high fructose corn syrup.

One such product is Log Cabin syrup, which boasts this on their front label:

Log Cabin

Great, thought Bryan A., a Mouse Print* reader. Then he read the ingredients statement on the back:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Log Cabin back

“If a banner across the front trumpets ‘NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP’ one doesn’t expect the first ingredient to be corn syrup,” explained Bryan. We agree.

There is, however, a difference between high fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup.

“… corn starch is broken down into individual glucose molecules, the end product is corn syrup, which is essentially 100% glucose. To make high fructose corn syrup, enzymes are added to corn syrup in order to convert some of the glucose to another simple sugar called fructose. High fructose corn syrup is ‘high’ in fructose [thus making it sweeter] compared to the pure glucose that is in corn syrup.” — Food and Drug Administration.

We asked Pinnacle Foods, the maker of Log Cabin, twice to comment on this issue, and they did not respond.

Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

Twinkies Upsized, Downsized, Upsized

Lost in the hoopla of Hostess reintroducing Twinkies starting July 15 is how the size of that sweet treat has changed over time.

Here is a short but incomplete photographic history of Twinkies over the past 40 years.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Twinkies 70s
1970s – 13 oz. – $1.19

Twinkies 2001
2001 – 15 oz. – $3.49

Twinkies Jan 12
January 2012 – 15 oz.

Twinkies Dec 12
December 2012 – 13.5 oz. – $4.29

Twinkies July 13
July 2013 – 13.58 oz – $3.99

In a rollercoaster history, Twinkies have gotten bigger, gotten smaller, and gotten slightly bigger again with today’s release. And while the price has more than tripled over four decades, it appears to have just been lowered by 30 cents.

And if you haven’t heard, the shelf-life of the product has been “improved” from 26 days to 45 days.

Updated every Monday!   Subscribe to free weekly newsletter.

Choosy Mothers May Stop Choosing Jif

Jif peanut butter, the favorite of “choosy mothers,” may have to change their slogan to “annoyed mothers” if those women read the product’s new label and catch the inconspicuous change.

Five years ago, we reported that Skippy peanut butter was the first major brand to downsize the traditional 18-ounce jar to just 16.3 ounces. Not long thereafter, Peter Pan followed suit. But not Jif. In fact, for a long time, Jif promoted the fact that they did not downsize their brand by proclaiming that Jif was still 18 ounces:

Jif still 18 oz.

That was then. The “still 18 oz.” claim disappeared from their jars over a year ago, but the product remained the full 18 ounces. That is, until now. Beginning to appear on store shelves across the country are Jif’s new jars:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Jif then and now

They shrunk the contents of the product by a full two ounces… but the jars look virtually the same. They didn’t pull the same trick that Skippy used of hollowing out the bottom of the jar. Somehow, though, there is over 10% less in what appears to be about the same size jar. How did they accomplish this seemingly impossible feat?

*MOUSE PRINT:

Jif measured

The new jar on the right actually had its waistline trimmed by one-half an inch. That’s the secret.

For its part, here is how the company explained its decision to downsize Jif:

“We previously announced the conversion of our packaging to 16 oz. jars effective June 1, 2013 based on consumer and retailer feedback. It is important to note that we also decreased the suggested retail price so the cost per ounce remained the same as it was prior to the packaging change. ” — Corporate Communications, J.M. Smucker

Of course, we are sure that shoppers must have just deluged the company with complaints, demanding that the company put less peanut butter in each jar.

Incidentally, we paid only $2.20 for the old, bigger jar, but were charged $3.29 for the new one at the same store on the same register receipt! Both sizes were marked $3.29 originally, but the old one appeared to be clearance priced.