{"id":2843,"date":"2024-02-08T19:26:30","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T19:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/?p=2843"},"modified":"2024-02-08T19:26:33","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T19:26:33","slug":"the-soup-wars-are-over-but-the-clean-label-fraud-lives-on-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/2024\/02\/08\/the-soup-wars-are-over-but-the-clean-label-fraud-lives-on-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018soup wars\u2019 are over, but the \u2018clean label\u2019 fraud lives on"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over a decade ago Progresso and Campbell\u2019s duked it out over whose soup contained less MSG. Called the \u201csoup wars,\u201d the first shot was fired by Campbell\u2019s in a 2008 ad that said more Progresso soups contained monosodium glutamate than Campbell\u2019s. Soon after, Progresso took out a full-page ad in the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0stating that \u201cCampbell\u2019s has 95 soups made with MSG.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, those big brands tell different stories about the MSG in their products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campbell\u2019s has decided to focus on how safe MSG is. They tell us that \u201cMSG occurs naturally in many foods, such as tomatoes and cheeses,\u201d while in fact MSG is manufactured.  It does not<\/em> appear \u201cnaturally\u201d anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with that, \u201cfor those looking to avoid MSG,\u201d Campbell\u2019s has \u201cclean label\u201d soups. Those are soups that contain the same toxic manufactured free glutamate that\u2019s in MSG, which will be found in ingredients such as yeast extract, whey protein concentrate and natural flavoring, without any mention of the toxic glutamate in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progresso has taken it a step further, claiming that its \u201cfocus on quality ingredients\u201d means they\u2019ve ditched using this excitotoxic additive all together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not exactly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progresso New England clam chowder is advertised as \u201cno MSG added,\u201d yet it contains natural flavor, yeast extract and whey protein concentrate. The brand\u2019s Chicken & herb dumpling soup also states \u201cNo MSG added,\u201d but contains natural flavor, corn protein (hydrolyzed), soy protein isolate and a second listing of natural flavor. Those are just two examples, we could go on and on, but you get the idea.\u00a0All of those ingredients contain free glutamate.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering what\u2019s contained in those soups, and how big and bold Progresso makes the claim of \u201cNo MSG added\u201d one might think there\u2019s no FDA regulation against such fraud. But there is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 25 years ago the FDA issued this statement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile technically MSG is only one of several forms of free glutamate used in foods, consumers frequently use the term MSG to mean all free glutamate. For this reason, FDA considers foods whose labels say \u201cNo MSG\u201d or \u201cNo added MSG\u201d to be misleading if the food contains ingredients that are sources of free glutamates, such as hydrolyzed protein.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, long ago the FDA stopped punishing or even scolding those who violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t make this any less a violation of FDA rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campbell\u2019s and Progresso are far from the only food manufacturers who engage in this \u201cclean label,\u201d \u201cNo MSG added\u201d trickery. And soups are not the only products promoted this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when you pick up a product that states \u201cNo MSG\u201d or \u201cNo added MSG,\u201d you\u2019ll know that you don\u2019t even need to read the ingredient label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just put it back on the shelf.<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over a decade ago Progresso and Campbell\u2019s duked it out over whose soup contained less MSG. Called the \u201csoup wars,\u201d the first shot was fired by Campbell\u2019s in a 2008 ad that said more Progresso soups contained monosodium glutamate than Campbell\u2019s. Soon after, Progresso took out a full-page ad in the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0stating that \u201cCampbell\u2019s … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The \u2018soup wars\u2019 are over, but the \u2018clean label\u2019 fraud lives on”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[411,54,409],"class_list":["post-2843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-campbells-soup","tag-excitotoxins","tag-progresso-soup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2844,"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843\/revisions\/2844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/truthinlabeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}