Label reading


                                 I know what is in these cookies because I made them. 

Yesterday I reached for a package of ground beef.  I put my glasses on to check the best before date when I saw the 'sourced' list.  Beef sourced from Australia, New Zealand and Nicaragua; I read it again, not believing my eyes on the first read.  Yep, that is what it said.  I put the meat back in it's spot and moved on.  My problem was two fold, first I wondered how you could even know where it was from; being that it stated three locations.  Two, was why it was brought in from one or all of these countries.  So I headed home to find out why?

After much reading and searching on the internet; it seems that beef from Australia, New Zealand and Nicaragua is better than from the US.   It is apparently more lean than our beef and of higher quality.   It makes you wonder if something was wrong with the meat; how easily or not they could track the source.  One side tidbit that I learned from all of my research was that the whole "kobe" thing is very clouded and the chance that you are actually eating it?  Low.  What it tells us is that we have to dig and dig deep if you want answers. 

Even when reaching for an ingredient that has yet to be used in anything; you need to read the fine print.  Imagine how much can be hidden from us in a food that is already processed?  Reading labels is very important and of course there are foods out there with no labels at all so we do our best.  Do not buy into advertising, marketing or fancy graphic gimmicks, read.  Dog food packaging is a nightmare.  The big companies make the bags so dynamic and appealing so that you have a sense of feeling good about what you are buying.  That is of course if you don't turn the bag over and read it.  Many of the really good foods have very boring, non descript packaging.

I like limited ingredients in what I buy.  In fact a bag of chocolates caught my eye while standing in the check out line yesterday.  "Three ingredients" it said.  So, of course I had to read it.  Chocolate, honey and mint, that's it.  Yes I bought and yes they are good.  They aren't a big whack of cake but are much better for me if I feel the need to have a sweet. 

I looked up Milkbones just to have a look at their ingredients.  A couple of things stood out immediately.  Please read labels before giving any food to your dog.  If the list of ingredients is hard to understand or as long as your arm, put it back on the shelf. 

Dicalcium phosphate

BHA



1 comment:

  1. I have become very dog food label reading happy (or whatever you call it) and even treats and cautious about some toys too - to make sure the dog toy is not from China (as with treats and food) I also want to know if the dog food has been recalled, ever and when. I am using a dog food now that I have a hard time finding out if it was ever recalled - I have searched and searched and as yet cannot find anything. It is not one of the bigger brand companies nnd not available in grocery stores or places like Target, Kmart or Walmart. What gets me are the big name companies still using meat and/or poultry BY-PRODUCTS and some form of corn (often corn gluten) in their dog food.
    Mom Kim

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