Food Shopping: What Do You Look For In A Product?
By veganbliss
@veganbliss (3895)
Adelaide, Australia
May 14, 2011 8:21pm CST
It has been pointed out for a long time now that our food labeling laws are a mess - at least down here. What I'm interested in today is what people look for when selecting which product to buy. There is, depending where one shops & how one goes about it, a huge variety to choose from for seemingly the same product. Do you think there is too much of this going on? Would you argue that there is still insufficient variety available to meet your needs & requirements, for your health, your family's health, your hip pocket's health & the health of the planet? Here are some of the labels we see on today's food products, packaging & associated literature in no particular order. Feel free to add any others you come across.
"This product was made using..."
Compostable Packaging
Minimum Production Waste
No Saturated Fats
No Trans-fats
Locally Grown Ingredients
No Deforestation
No Antibiotics
No Hormones
No Artificial Colours or Flavours
Minimal Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Sustainable Palm Oil
Carbon Neutral Processes
No Acrylamide
Renewable Energy
Renewable Ingredients
All Natural Ingredients
Optimum Portion Size
No Factory Farming
No Palm Oil
Halal Standards
Minimum Water Footprint
Renewable Packaging Material
No Fertilizer
Fair Trade
Biodiversity Principles
Low Sodium
Biodegradable Packaging
Reusable Packaging
Post consumer recycled material packaging
No Added Sugar
Irrigation-free ingredients
No GMOs (genetically modified organisms)
Cage-Free Eggs
Local Manufacturing
Animal Rights Principles
Minimum Packaging
Minimized Fresh Water Waste
No Preservatives
Resealable Packaging
No High Fructose Corn Syrup
No BPA Packaging
Energy Efficient Transportation
Certified Organic Ingredients
Minimum Carbon Footprint
Energy efficient production
Recyclable packaging
No Pesticides
Which one of these would you most prefer to buy, which others do you regard as important or even essential & which do you believe are unnecessary? Would you buy one product over another for any of these labels & are you prepared to pay more for food products with any or all of these labels? Your thoughts on the matter, please.
1 person likes this
6 responses
@peavey (16936)
• United States
15 May 11
I couldn't pick just one, but I do look for organic products, which are non GMO, and I look for locally produced things first. We don't have such a variety of labels, mainly I think because agribusiness doesn't want to have to play the game. They don't really want us to know what's in their "food."
I don't pay much attention to carbon footprint (I have a much smaller one than most), but I do not want to eat pesticides and herbicides and hormones not meant for me.
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
15 May 11
That's the way to do it.
It's like killing two birds with the one stone, or so the saying goes. You're right; buying organic does automatically make it GMO free. The "food miles" issue is becoming increasingly important too, especially in the global warming / climate change debate. It's also important for local jobs & putting money back into the local community too.
That's true about agribusiness, but they are slowly being forced to play the game or go down to the competition. Hopefully these labels will get out there more & help consumers make better choices for themselves & those they care about. People like to know how their food is being treated & by whom - & we deserve to know everything about what we shove into our mouths.
You're right - it's tricky to pick just one. Some of those labels I don't know much about at all. It seems some of them are also open to exploitation too.
It's like killing two birds with the one stone, or so the saying goes. You're right; buying organic does automatically make it GMO free. The "food miles" issue is becoming increasingly important too, especially in the global warming / climate change debate. It's also important for local jobs & putting money back into the local community too.
That's true about agribusiness, but they are slowly being forced to play the game or go down to the competition. Hopefully these labels will get out there more & help consumers make better choices for themselves & those they care about. People like to know how their food is being treated & by whom - & we deserve to know everything about what we shove into our mouths.
You're right - it's tricky to pick just one. Some of those labels I don't know much about at all. It seems some of them are also open to exploitation too.@peavey (16936)
• United States
16 May 11
At this point I'm more concerned about keeping money circulating locally and encouraging people to continue to grow organically and sell to the public, regardless of the government's interference.
I do hope that agribusiness is forced to play the game. People are becoming more aware of options and why we need them.
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
16 May 11
Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, I share the same views. Your government is interfering in this? I have heard this may be about to happen, but never thought it actually would! For shame. Then again, I don't know the full story.
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
20 May 11
Well, I have been meaning to get to this one for a while, but it got lost in my inbox. Not enough time to get into Mylotting at the moment I am afraid. Plus, I have been working off my laptop whih I hate using. I now have a new desktop which is lovely though! So good and fast!
I think you know whaere I stand on foods. Most of the food we buy has no packaging or labels as it is fresh local produce from the organic markets. We do buy some non organic produce in small amounts to see us through the week after our market stuff runs out, but that will most likely change once we have moved in a couple of weeks. We are going to be closer to two organic shops that we frequent from time to time, so that is good. Plus the property we are moving to is on an acreage with lots of edible weeds! 
I think you know whaere I stand on foods. Most of the food we buy has no packaging or labels as it is fresh local produce from the organic markets. We do buy some non organic produce in small amounts to see us through the week after our market stuff runs out, but that will most likely change once we have moved in a couple of weeks. We are going to be closer to two organic shops that we frequent from time to time, so that is good. Plus the property we are moving to is on an acreage with lots of edible weeds! @RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
20 May 11
We ae still going to be in QLD. Only going ten minutes down the road. I will be creating some sort of garden once we settle in. I want to take my compost from here with me too. I have put a lot of effort into that over time. I know how rich the soil will be from it as well from previous experience, so I do not want to leave it.
Are you still planning on moving up this way?
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
21 May 11
Yes, we'll eventually end up somewhere up there. I feel that way too about my composted soil. No one will appreciate it more than we will. Do you think we can pull off a raid on your old property to get some of that good soil back for you? 
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
15 May 11
In the current financial crisis, your situation would probably apply to most people around the world today. People also want to know these days how those same ingredients are being treated or processed by the manufacturer. For example, several product brands or companies display more-or-less the same ingredients in a certain product. Which labels would most likely make you decide one product over another? I'm not pushing it, because you've already mentioned price, which is a big decider & it is unlikely that each one will be priced the same, but which labels would you be prepared to pay a little more for & which ones wouldn't make any difference whatsoever?
@jugsjugs (12967)
•
15 May 11
When we buy food we have to ensure that the food what we buy do not contain things that will make my sons adhd become a problem.I wish that the shops were to put certain items on a shelf or even dedicate a whole isle to certain foods that have less energy in them ie e numbers etc.Other than that we tend not to worry about other things that are listed that will not be a problem.
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
15 May 11
That's a good point. Do you think they should have an "adhd - friendly" label or rating on the labels or other information, like the manufacturers / product website? That's a good idea to separate foods that have different energy levels associated with them. Maybe they could grade products in their isles according to energy levels. It would benefit quite a number of shoppers that way. Or the shops could come up with a system of their own without the need to change products on shelves, just so long as shoppers could quickly & easily make their choice without having to read through every product label.
Sorry to hear you son has adhd. 
@jb78000 (15139)
•
15 May 11
good question. ok - score out all the vague ones that actually mean nothing - e.g. biodiversity principles. score out the obvious - 'compostable packaging' on cardboard for example. score out the ones i don't care about 'no sugar'. i think i'm probably left with two.
the one of those that most annoys me are the vague, utterly meaningless ones. there were a lot of them on tins of tuna from completely unsustainable sources but i think greenpeace forced a couple of the worst culprits to source their tuna from more sustainable sources [in UK anyway].
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
16 May 11
Nice approach.
A lot of those labels do seem vague, utterly meaningless & seem to be prone to the creativeness or cleverness of industry to circumnavigate them to the extent that while seeming to comply with the label, the end result is the consumer gets a product treated / sourced, etc much differently than expected.
In either case, I believe that the competitiveness that these labels seem to provide does set higher standards for the food products we now purchase. I did hear about Greenpeace's activities on that front. I hope it all helps to push manufacturers in the right direction as far as being truthful & ethical about the products they provide us with. 
A lot of those labels do seem vague, utterly meaningless & seem to be prone to the creativeness or cleverness of industry to circumnavigate them to the extent that while seeming to comply with the label, the end result is the consumer gets a product treated / sourced, etc much differently than expected.
In either case, I believe that the competitiveness that these labels seem to provide does set higher standards for the food products we now purchase. I did hear about Greenpeace's activities on that front. I hope it all helps to push manufacturers in the right direction as far as being truthful & ethical about the products they provide us with. 1 person likes this
@myswirlyagelessmind (379)
• Philippines
15 May 11
I wasn't as particular before as I am now, but when we decided to be more careful of our choices because of my sudden discovery that there are certain elements present in most of the products that we used to buy that have been contributing to the pains I've been feeling, we've become more thorough in our grocery shopping. We're always for those seals that ensure us that the products are after not just our health but also of the world we live in, however, they're not as important as making sure that there's no soy or soy products, nuts and corn, beans in the food items that we buy because they're bad for me and my parents.
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
16 May 11
That's often the case, isn't it? Our health & those we care about seem to be real motivating factors nowadays. Fair point; the ingredient labels are the first priorities & then maybe how those ingredients are treated, transported, packaged, grown, etc come after that. Hope your health improves soon with the better choices you will be making now.
The soy, nuts, corn & beans we often buy on the cheap these days often have parts of them removed in the milling / manufacturing process making them not whole foods for good digestion by the time they reach our mouths. If they are indeed whole foods, or you have grown them yourselves, then they need to be soaked for at least seven hours, according to the food type, before we can eat them & absorb all their nutrients properly without causing any problems. Soaking prior to cooking or sprouting changes the food's properties substantially & it's what our forefathers used to practice when preparing their meals. Hope this helps.
The soy, nuts, corn & beans we often buy on the cheap these days often have parts of them removed in the milling / manufacturing process making them not whole foods for good digestion by the time they reach our mouths. If they are indeed whole foods, or you have grown them yourselves, then they need to be soaked for at least seven hours, according to the food type, before we can eat them & absorb all their nutrients properly without causing any problems. Soaking prior to cooking or sprouting changes the food's properties substantially & it's what our forefathers used to practice when preparing their meals. Hope this helps. 