Showing posts with label Ingredients. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ingredients. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

WHOLE FOODS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY

IGOR is the name of the cheese, which is a milder Provolone.  In fact, Whole Foods describes it as a "Mini Provolone Dolce," a sweet little provolone.  It was good.  No complaints.  This cheese was a product of Italy.  That good or bad?  Depends on the manufacturer, but I've heard propaganda that the quality of produce in Italy is excellent.  My one and only abiding concern about any cheese is the rennet, whether its made of a vegetarian Merck product or animal based from the farm.  Fewer than 5% of cheeses will ever identify as animal rennet.  Does that assume that the rennet is vegetable based?  Probably.  The cheese was $18.99/lb. I paid $6.46 for it so I got a 1/3lb. 

Well, I ordered this meatloaf thinking it was made of beef.  It was made of turkey.  I just didn't catch it.   It looked like the traditional beef meatloaf.  The price wasn't listed so I was arguing with a recently immigrated middle-aged woman from God knows where who had no sense of customer service.  She barely had a sense of her own incompetence.  She said she didn't know the price.  I asked don't you have a list of prices?  Looking at me knowingly, she said she'd have to weigh it to find out what the price was.  I said no.  I said what's the price per pound? She said she didn't know.  I said don't you have a list of prices on the items in your display case?  And then she finally understood.  The work an older man has to do nowadays just to get a lunch.  So she looks for it.  She finds it.  She quotes me a price.  $11.99/lb.  I ordered half a pound.  She was afraid she was going to have to cut the displayed slices to accommodate my 1/2 lb request.  Turns out that each slice is approximately a half pound.  She didn't know that.  Then I see the tag.  A tag is generated and attached only to completed orders.  So I got 0.51 lbs for a price of $6.11.  But I didn't get beef.  When did Whole Foods start selling turkey meatloaf?  Who eats turkey meatloaf?  It has wheat in it, and I got a mild allergic reaction; that combined with the sugar probably caused that reaction.  It is like a parlor trick nowadays ordering food.  You're looking for the dangerous seed oil, only to be delighted by their absence only to realize you're still going to get sick from the sugar and grains.  It's fun.  : - /

The one good find I saw here at Whole Foods was their rotisserie chickens.  The price of their chickens is $8.99 for a whole chicken.  The ingredients list was simple--chicken, seasoning, and one other item.  No word of Canola Oil anywhere.  But I can't tell that if that's a good sign or a deliberate, marketing omission to skirt around the popular concerns about seed oils.  King Soopers 8-piece baked [but loaded with a lot of unhealthy seasoning, including Canola Oil] costs $9.99.  So Whole Foods is $1 cheaper.  
  
How does a store that specializes in organic foods be this bad? This store has a 3-star review on Yelp.  Not good.  Not good for a high-end grocery store.  


Monday, September 16, 2024

WARNING: KING SOOPER'S INGREDIENT LIST FOR "BAKED CHICKEN"

You know we're in a bad place when the listed allergens sound healthier than the main ingredients.  

I ordered some baked chicken today, or so I thought it was baked, but I ended up getting barbequed sauce not sauce-free baked chicken.  I thought about eating it, but then I started reading the ingredients.  You can see them listed here:
CHICKEN INGREDIENTS:  Up to 14% of the solution is water, salt, and sodium phosphates. 

No mention of chicken.  

BREADING INGREDIENTS:  Wheat flour, salt, soy flour, Red Pepper, Canola, or Soybean oil, Non-fat Milk, Garlic Powder, Eggs, Spices, Natural Flavor [what's that?], Disodium Inosinate, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein. 

Canola or Soybean Oil?  They're not sure?  Is it a blend of the two?  They're not sure. 

SEASONING INGREDIENTS: Salt, Nonfat Milk, Natural Flavor [again, what is that?], Cellulose Gum, Disodium Inosinate, Silicon Dioxide. 

What is Natural Flavor?

FRYING OIL INGREDIENTS: (Triumph Zero Trans Creamy Liquid Fry Shortening) Liquid and Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Canola Oil, TBHQ, and Citric Acid added to protect flavor.  Dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent added. 

What the hell is (Triumph Zero Trans Creamy Liquid Fry Shortening) Liquid and Hydrogenated Soybean Oil?  And what is Dimethylpolysiloxane?  And why are anti-foaming agents added? 

You know we're in a bad place when the listed allergens sound healthier than the main ingredients.  


Edam Cheese, Brand name Gayo Azul, Product of the Netherlands?

INGREDIENTS:  Pasteurized cow's milk, salt, starter culture, microbial enzymes, beta-carotene (for color),