Health Rip Offs Rip Off Food

Food - it's big business. Each year,

we spend something like £5,000 per household on food and drink.

So the competition for your pound is tough.

'We'll leave no shelf untouched in our quest to champion you,

'the weekly shopper.'

This is the series in which we'll be exposing the hidden rip-offs,

and letting you in on the tricks of the food trade.

'And most importantly, we'll show you how to be a smart shopper.'

Welcome to Rip Off Food.

'Today, we're looking at what makes us choose certain foods,

'and whether we're being misled.

'For instance, the flavoured waters that boast of lots of vitamins,

'but you might not notice their sugary kick.'

Really? I'm very surprised, I wouldn't have said that one there.

'What really goes into

'one of the nation's favourite breakfast choices?'

It's unbelievable, that's all I can say.

'And one of the ingredients that you'll find in diet food

'that could also be used by your decorator.'

And there's no way that they're going anywhere.

No. Well, except into your stomach in this case.

HE LAUGHS

'In the battle to tackle obesity,

'the Government recommends we get moving,

'and do at least 30 minutes' exercise a day.'

Look at that.

But of course it's not just exercise that helps you lose weight.

The other way is very simple, to watch what you eat.

Last year, sales of low fat healthy options and diet food

were worth £1.6 billion.

And at the start of the day,

few would choose to eat a full English breakfast.

The popular choice is a much lighter option.

It's good to start the day with a breakfast cereal.

-You're a cereal person.

-Mm.

-Porridge.

-Tea and toast.

Some cereal or some muesli.

I tend to have porridge.

Muesli or All-Bran or Weetabix.

Breakfast cereals may be

the obvious quick and easy morning option,

but do we really know what goes in them?

We consume almost 400 million kilos of cereal every year.

It's an industry worth a whopping £1.8 billion.

Cereal boxes advertise the healthiness of their contents,

and that's a big part of what health conscious adults are looking for.

I prefer quite healthy cereal, so, like fruit and fibre type stuff.

I like to have cereals because it's convenient, um...

-And healthy.

-And healthy.

It's a good start to the day, they don't have to be fattening.

Apart from porridge, I haven't come across a healthy cereal,

I've got to be honest.

Investigative food journalist Joanna Blythman

has researched the profit margins made by cereal manufacturers.

What they've done

is they've taken ingredients

which are basically dirt cheap,

manufactured them in a very brutal, simple, easy way,

added a few things to them,

and put them out at a an absolutely jaw-dropping mark-up,

and that's really what you're buying when you buy most breakfast cereals.

What's more, the packaging stresses vitamin and high fibre content.

But there's an added ingredient

that you have to look much more closely to find.

Most breakfast cereals are not that great.

They're not that healthy,

and some of them are actually really bad for you.

So, for example, an awful lot of breakfast cereals

have enormous amounts of sugar in them.

But they have this illusion of health.

But are any of the cereals a healthier choice?

Which ones might have a lower sugar content,

and are they the ones that we might expect?

Today, I'm at Shipbourne's Farmers' Market in Kent.

I want to run a little experiment on sugar.

I want to see how much sugar people would expect to find

in an average bowl of cereal that they might deem to be healthy.

'We've looked at research reported by Which? in March 2012

'on the sugar content of 50 popular cereals,

'and have chosen three that are middle of the range,

'and sound like healthy options.

'We've got a bran flake,

'a rice and wheat flake,

'and, lastly, a muesli.'

Now we all like a little bit of cereal for breakfast of course,

but would you say those were average portions that you might eat?

-Yes, I would say.

-Yeah, I would think so.

-That one looks a little small.

-Small?

Um...yes, I would.

I'd normally have that and that.

OK, so you think these portions are pretty good?

Yeah, yeah.

Do you think they look quite healthy?

-Yeah, I'd say.

-I'd say so too, yeah.

Yes? So the healthy option?

Cos we have bran, we have another option that's very healthy,

that supposed to keep you nice and slim,

and then we have muesli, of course.

How would you react if I told you

that within this cereal is this much sugar?

-I would be surprised. In all of them?

-Yes.

-Every single one?

-Every single one.

Even the one that's meant to help you diet? That's very surprising.

-Really? In those?

-Are you shocked?

-Yes.

-I am shocked.

-I add sugar to my stuff like this.

To think that you'd have that each morning,

that's quite a lot over seven days.

I mean, the point is, there are lots of children's cereals

that you hear publicity about,

the fact that they're packed with sugar,

whether it's honey, or whatever the case may be,

but these, I would deem

-the healthy option. So...

-Yes, exactly.

-It is a bit shocking, isn't it?

-Yes, it's terrible, really!

So let's come clean - the portions in these bowls are 60 grams,

'and that's double what most cereal manufacturers recommend

as a portion size.

With the exception of the muesli,

where the manufacturer recommends a 45 gram serving.

I might shock you even further,

because this is what the cereal company deems an average portion.

That looks a little bit little to me!

It looks little to me as well.

-Even in that small portion of 30 grams...

-Yeah.

-..there's that amount of sugar in it.

-Wow.

-That's terrible.

-Right.

I think that a lot of the portion sizes are really small.

Those sort of breakfast cereals are intrinsically not very satisfying,

cos they're quite light, so it's all about texture.

I mean, if you had to, sort of, chew your way through a piece of,

let's take for example, German pumpernickel bread,

your stomach will feel quite full.

You know that you've had something substantial.

I think the dangerous thing with breakfast cereals,

it's so easy to eat, it's just addictively easy to eat.

'Of the three cereals we chose, it's the bran-based one

'which has the highest amount of sugar.

'For every 100 grams of cereal, there's 20 grams of sugar.'

That's a fifth!

That's amazing. I never knew that.

I would kid myself I'm having a healthy one there,

thinking I haven't added sugar,

-but there's actually loads of sugar in it.

-Isn't there?

Now this one, which is sold as

a very good option for slimming, et cetera.

And this is 17 grams per 100 grams of cereal.

It's crazy, isn't it,

cos you don't read the side of the packet that much

to actually work out how much sugar there is in it?

-That's very surprising.

-Yeah, it is surprising.

'The muesli has nearly 17 grams of sugar per 100 grams,

'and that's a naturally-occurring sugar in the dried fruit.'

-I can't believe that.

-It's a lot, isn't it?

-It is a lot.

-Yeah.

So, what's your reaction overall

when you see the amounts of sugar in what we would deem healthy cereals?

It's unbelievable, that's all I can say.

I'm shocked.

-Yeah... I didn't realise it.

-I am surprised.

I'll probably keep eating it, but I am surprised.

I'm not going to have any!

-I've put you off it for life, have I?

-Exactly, yeah!

I actually put some sugar on my cereal this morning!

-THEY LAUGH

-Only a little bit.

-But you won't tomorrow.

-No.

GLORIA LAUGHS

I don't think I will again!

Thanks very much for taking part in the experiment,

-thank you.

-Bye-bye.

Clearly the public thought these so-called healthy options

were really what they would choose,

and probably the portion they would choose as well,

until, that is, I showed them the amount of sugar

that they're likely to find within their chosen portion.

Shock horror!

Now, we concentrated on the cereals that are marketed

as healthier options.

The Food Standards Agency found that only 8 out of 100 cereals

they surveyed could be described as low in sugar -

that's 5 grams in 100.

The flaked cereal was invented in Michigan in the United States

back in 1884.

Sugar was added to stop the cereals tasting,

as the inventor, William Kellogg, claimed, "Like horse food."

But 100 years on, has the recipe altered?

'Well, our food scientist, Peter Maynard,

'shows us that the basic ingredients haven't actually changed that much.'

I thought we'd start with looking at just what cereal in the main

breakfast cereals are made from.

Breakfast cereals are made from generally a whole grain.

This is corn which has been taken off of the cob.

Oats.

Rice.

Wheat.

This is wheat bran.

So what is the actual process, is it a long process to get...

-Yeah.

-..from the initial grain to what we know as breakfast cereals?

Yes, certainly it can take two or three hours.

First of all, you have to cook the grains, and then you'll grind it.

It will be soft by then, of course, and put it between two rollers,

which are operating at a very high pressure,

and will press it out into more-or-less flat flakes.

They can also have other things added to them.

-For instance, you can see that this one is quite shiny.

-Mm.

It's had a sugar solution sprayed on it

once it's been through the rollers.

It's also got small particles of other things,

in this case it's nuts. And then, if required,

they will also be spraying it with vitamins and minerals.

See, the one next to it is rather sort of dry and plain-looking.

So would that one not have any sugar added?

No, it doesn't mean to say that it has no sugar added.

In this case, the sugar would be added at an earlier stage,

during the cooking process,

as opposed to this one, where it's been sprayed on afterwards,

-and you can see it gives it a very shiny, a very glazed effect.

-Mm.

Quite commonly, cereals have... a third of it is sugar.

-A third of sugar?

-Yeah.

That's an awful lot of sugar.

Are there any cereals that are left just raw, if you like -

that don't have any sugar?

Yes, there are some.

Things which declare themselves to be 100% of the cereal,

like a wheat which has just been shredded, for instance,

which generally won't have any added sugar.

What do you eat?

I eat porridge, which has no added sugar,

and I also eat toast with a low-fat spread.

Peter's recommendations are good choices, and another healthy option

is a cereal often described as wheat biscuits.

But the only way to be sure is to choose cereal

with under 5 grams of sugar per 100 grams.

When it comes to really healthy products,

one of the best must be water.

Well, when you consider that it has zero calories,

it's got to be a winner, right?

Whether you're drinking it or exercising on it,

water is a staple of life.

Now, there's a really big trend these days

towards flavoured waters -

you know, a bottle of water with a bit of fruit in it

that makes it all sound very healthy.

Could it be that we're being sold down the river

when it comes to buying

these new varieties of bottled water?

One of the newest additions to the H2O aisle of the supermarket

is flavoured water,

and we're drinking some 300 million litres of it a year.

Vince Mitchell, Professor of Consumer Marketing,

sees flavoured water as yet another example

of manufacturers turning a cheap staple into a profit.

Flavoured waters were introduced

as one of the classic marketing case studies.

Basically, water is a utility, and therefore it's sold on price.

How do you then increase the price at which you sell that utility,

and that is through differentiation.

It's very hard to differentiate water,

and so flavoured waters were introduced

as one way of differentiating

and therefore being able to charge a higher price for it.

The manufacturers don't claim that the drink is healthy,

but pictures of real fruit suggest a wholly natural addition to water.

OK, so here we have three examples of flavoured water.

And what you see from all three

is some freshly cut fruit,

you get some fresh, big representations here,

and that gives the impression that this has got fresh fruit inside it,

and also it's going to be, sort of, healthier than normal water.

In this particular case there's only 2% of apple juice in here.

But in this case, we actually don't have any juice at all.

The highest selling flavoured water, Volvic Touch of Fruit range,

has natural fruit flavours.

But flavoured waters have an added extra -

calories.

'And to test out how much energy someone has to expend

'to use up the calories in a flavoured water

'compared to a fizzy drink, I've persuaded some champion rowers

'to do a little time trial on my behalf.

'Mm-mm. "Not a bad idea," I hear you say.'

Well, boys, I have to say I was impressed with you out on the water,

you broke a few beads of sweat,

I hope you're going to break a few more.

I'm going to give you each a drink,

and I should imagine you'd be ready for that anyway.

'On the right,

'John gets a can with a third of a litre of Schweppes lemonade in it.

'Next, Tom gets a half-litre bottle of Volvic Strawberry,

'and Alan gets a half-litre bottle

'of Volvic Lemon and Lime flavoured water.'

'Now, the rowing machines have a calorie counter,

'and I know from the label how many calories there are in each drink.

'But I just haven't told them.'

If you'd like to have a slug,

each one has a different level of calorie,

and then the idea is that once you've drunk all of that,

we're going to see how long it will take you to work off the calories.

So, Tom, what's the expression in rowing circles?

-Attention, go.

-Can I do that one?

-Yeah, let's go for it.

OK, attention, go!

'Now, will the guys be surprised by who has to do most work

'to burn off the calories in their beverage?

'The first 30 calories takes our fit guys 1 minute 16 to burn off.'

You boys are not even halfway yet, I tell you.

'John drank a can containing a third of a litre of lemonade,

'and he takes nearly two and half minutes at this rate

'to burn off its 60 calories.'

Actually, here's the point,

you've got the better end of the deal,

because the boys still have quite a bit to go.

But that's only a lemonade, so 60 calories in the can.

Are you surprised about that?

Yeah, I thought I'd be still going way after these guys had stopped.

'You might expect that the calories in a half-litre of flavoured water

'would be very quickly burnt off by Alan and Tom.'

Still got a way to go, Tom.

Alan's still got a way to go, as well.

All right, Tom.

Oh, gosh, I was nearly worn out myself with that.

Do you know, Tom - I'm just watching beautifully

that sweat just dripping off you -

yours was 100 calories, so it took you nearly five minutes to do that.

-You were the water with a touch of strawberry.

-Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, it just shows you.

See, I would drink that without even thinking about it, and yet...

Are you surprised that it's 100 calories?

Yeah, well, you think Volvic water, it's a low-calorie water drink,

but obviously it's got a lot of calories in the water.

Yeah. And Alan's still going.

Finished, 116 calories,

so 5 minutes, 34 seconds to do all of that.

So this is the thing that actually surprises me

is that I think that a lot of people would just pick that up

thinking that the water enhanced with fruit

would be actually quite a healthy thing to drink.

-Yeah.

-Wouldn't you say so?

-That makes sense, yeah.

-Are you gasping a bit?

-A little bit!

-SHE LAUGHS

-And sweating!

-John's not!

-No.

Are you shocked at 116 calories?

Yeah, it didn't even taste like it was sugary at all,

but it obviously has.

'So, John, who drank the can of lemonade, got the easy job.

'He only had a third of a litre of lemonade to work off.

'But comparing like for like, it's still the lemonade

'that has the least calories - 18 per 100ml.

'The Touch of Strawberry has almost 20 calories,

'and the Touch of Lemon and Lime has the most - 23 calories per 100ml.

'Now, not exactly the result you might expect.'

The reality is, you know, me, I mean, I'm not fit,

but it would take me ages to work all of this off,

and I reckon a lot of you at home,

it would take you quite a lot of time to burn off

what seems to be innocent calories,

but 116 sometimes, just in that bottle of water.

Volvic producer Danone told us their beverages provide people

with an alternative to very sugary drinks

which many prefer to plain water.

They added that they make it clear the drinks contain added sugar,

and their bottles give consumers all the necessary information

to make an informed choice.

They said that the use of pictures of fresh fruit is not misleading,

and is permitted on drinks which use natural flavourings

derived from that fruit.

Touch of Fruit Strawberry, and Lemon and Lime, they said,

have only about half the calorie content

of comparable sugar-sweetened beverages on the market.

Another new trend in bottled water cuts out the addition of fruit,

and just goes straight for the vitamin count.

Now, here we have a different product.

This is actually Vitaminwater, and it actually says here, "Revive."

So this gives the impression

that it's going to be extremely good for you,

it's going to revive, revitalise you.

And also, it may have been scientifically designed,

because when we look at this label here, it's a very clinical label

that you'd think there was some science behind it.

You expect that a bottle of Vitaminwater

may have added vitamins,

but it's also got 23 grams of sugar in a bottle.

Now, this Glaceau Vitaminwater has rocketed in popularity -

a 140% sales rise in the last three years.

But how aware are you when it comes to the sugar content

of flavoured water?

We sent our researchers to Europe's tallest building,

the Shard in central London, with a lunchbox of popular snacks.

Packet of ready-salted crisps,

a doughnut,

KitKat,

Muller corner.

That's a sandwich of some sort.

And to wash it all down is the Vitaminwater.

It may not contain the most fat or calories,

but can our guinea pigs spot the most sugary item in the lunchbox?

I would think obviously the one

that's got lots of sugar on the outside

would probably be a contender.

I think this contains most.

I reckon the doughnut. It's got sugar on top, you can see the icing.

I'll go for the drink.

I think the Vitaminwater.

The KitKat, because it's chocolate.

I think the doughnut.

Maybe the chocolate bar.

The doughnut and the piece of cake, definitely.

-Yeah.

-And then the KitKat.

-Yeah?

-Definitely, yeah.

So only 4 out of 15 guessed that it was the drink.

And with 23 grams of sugar in the bottle,

that's nearly a quarter of our guideline daily allowance.

It's the Vitaminwater.

-THEY LAUGH

-Yes!

I'm surprised. Really?

Water's meant to be good for you.

Yeah, water's meant to be good for you, vitamins obviously,

but I didn't know there was that much sugar in it.

This labelling here, right, it says vitamin C, vitamin B, zinc,

that sort of puts you on the track to think,

"Oh, this is healthy, I'll drink this."

It's even got "We love the Olympics" on there.

Again, you'd associate the Olympics with something healthy.

Obviously, it's not.

We contacted Coca Cola, who said that:

"Glaceau Vitaminwater is a low-calorie and convenient way

"to help people hydrate

"and get more of the vitamins and minerals they require.

"We have always been very open that the drink contains 23g of sugar,

"26% GDA, in each 500ml bottle, which is prominently labelled.

"We do not believe that sugars are a bad thing in moderation.

"Later this year, our reformulated Glaceau range with 30% less sugar

"will be rolled out."

Well, it's clear that many people like me

just don't realise the amount of sugar and calories

that you might get in a healthy-looking drink.

So beware bottles with juicy-looking fruit and vitamins.

It may look like just water, but in fact it packs a sugary punch.

With all this low-profile sugar in our food and drink,

it's no surprise that obesity is on the rise.

But one solution seems to be that rather than eat less,

we turn to low-fat or healthy-eating ranges.

Low-fat, light products?

Depends if I'm shopping with my missus or not!

I do buy low-fat spreads, butter, mayonnaise.

Yeah, I buy things like low-fat yoghurts and drinks.

Um...

Just so that it leaves room to have some chocolate, for instance!

The question is -

does it stop us piling on the pounds or just simply make us feel better?

It seems that many may be turning to diet food

because over the last eight years,

food manufacturers have been busy overhauling their recipes.

£15-million worth of products have been re-launched

with reduced sugar, fat and salt levels.

With terms like "light," "lighter" and "lightest,"

you might think we'd be in danger of floating away altogether.

But what do any of these terms actually mean?

Well, of course, the diet industry is enormous,

and I think the majority of us are a bit fascinated with it,

so joining us in the kitchen today, I have a nutritionist,

and that is Arabella Hayter.

So, Arabella, it is an enormous talking point, isn't it?

There's so many different descriptions,

whether it's L-I-T-E lite, or L-I-G-H-T,

or light in fat or lower fat.

Are there legal requirements as to how you describe it on the label?

There are certainly legal requirements

as to what manufacturers can put on their products.

For example, if the product is going to claim that it's light

or it's lower fat,

it has to have 30% less fat than the standard equivalent.

So, for example, here we've got biscuits.

Biscuits are a very good example to use as a comparison.

So this product here says that it's the Lights,

and it's 30% reduced fat.

Now that means that it's 30% less fat than the standard variety.

If we look at this, it has 20 grams of fat per 100 grams,

and this has got 14 grams of fat per 100 grams.

So in order for something to be a low-fat product,

it actually has to have less than 3 grams of fat per 100 grams.

So this isn't exactly a low-fat product,

even though it's got less fat than the standard version.

So the labelling on the biscuits is legal,

because "lighter" and "light" doesn't mean the same as "low fat",

which has to under three grams.

Do you think we're all just lured in by the very idea

of anything that says "lighter" or "less fat"?

Oh, certainly.

I think by calling something low fat,

people seem to think that also means that perhaps it's low calorie,

and therefore they can eat it freely.

But at the same time, if I was going to have a biscuit like that,

and I have the option of having a lower fat, like 30% lower,

then surely it's still got to be better for me

than having the original?

Because the manufacturers have taken out fat,

they still want it to taste nice.

So you'll find that often low-fat products

will actually have more sugar in them than the standard equivalent.

For example, in the standard equivalent of this biscuit,

there is 16 grams of sugar,

compared with 20 grams of sugar per 100 in the lighter version.

So you have to weigh up the pros and cons.

Now, we've already established with the biscuits

that the so-called healthier version

actually has more sugar in it than the original.

Let's look at the yoghurts, and we have some light yoghurts there.

OK, these light yoghurts are light because they're fat free.

There's only 0.1 grams of fat per 100.

But they do have added sugars and sweeteners in them.

Although the sugar level is relatively low,

-7.8 grams per 100...

-And there should be 5 or under.

To be considered a low-sugar product, yes.

So by adding sugar and sweeteners and so on,

does that kind of whet your appetite for sugar?

Oh, certainly.

There's been a lot of research recently

that actually sugar could be considered

to be as addictive as a drug.

As with salty food, we learn to like the taste of sugar.

So the more sugar you have often, the more you want it.

'So we asked the Sugar Nutrition Organisation to comment.

'They said:'

"A World Health Organisation report concluded that any similarities

"between brain signals generated by pleasurable foods

"and those from drugs of abuse

"do not support the idea of a food being addictive."

Also, "..that research does not support the theory

"that sugar in particular is addictive."

Lastly, "Expert committees including the Department of Health

"concluded that at current levels of consumption,

"sugar doesn't play a role in diseases

"such as diabetes, obesity and coronary heart disease."

Let's look at the crisps because I think we're a nation

of crisp lovers, in front of the telly in particular.

One of the versions here is a baked variety.

This one makes the claim that it's got 70% less fat

than the standard alternative.

So is "baked" then, a very good thing to have on the packet,

obviously better than "deep fried".

Absolutely. They've used less oil, which is where the fat comes from.

But the advice to give consumers is that

if you're trying to eat a calorie controlled diet, perhaps just

try not to have crisps at all rather than choosing a baked variety.

'So these baked crisps do have fewer calories than the original variety

'but at nearly 100 calories a bag,

'that's a lot more than you'll get in a stick of celery!'

So how much do you think the consumer is categorically misled?

I think claims can be very misleading, definitely.

Things that say that they're low fat might not be as low fat

as consumers initially think they are.

What would your advice be if people just want to be healthy

and possibly lose a bit of weight at the same time?

Eat a healthy, balanced diet, try and get a range of foods

including lots of fruits and vegetables

and everything in moderation.

And I would think bring your glasses to the supermarket

when you go shopping because I can't read half of those labels.

Yeah, absolutely and allow yourself lots of time

if you're going to bother to read all the labels.

'As well as individual groceries,

'food manufacturers use "healthy", "good for you", "lighter",

'and "low calorie" claims on processed food and ready meals.

'And almost a third of adults trying to lose weight

'have switched to low in sugar, fat and calories.

'But many aren't totally clear about what they're buying.'

I buy low-fat and diet foods

because it's got lower calorie content in it.

I'm not sure about whether they're the same, low fat and low calorie.

If I pick up something low fat I think low calories,

but that's just me being ignorant, perhaps.

I don't think that low fat equals low calorie. It's a myth.

'Jane DeVille-Almond is a nurse with 20 years' experience

'in advising people with weight problems.'

'I have a lot of clients who use'

healthy eating products

because they think it's going to help them lose weight,

but the big problem with that

is it doesn't help them think about food itself,

they just go and buy a product because it's got healthy options.

I think it actually stops them looking at the calories in there

and I think that's the big danger,

that they're relying on the companies to make the decisions for them.

Jane works in the West Midlands.

She thinks the best way to combat public ignorance

about healthy eating

is to take her message out to workplace and community centres.

She's going to use a menu of diet and healthy eating ranges

but keep the calorie count for each choice hidden.

The point of this menu here really is to get people to understand

that when they see things like "light" and "reduced fat",

"reduced calories", "for slimmers", that actually, sometimes,

they're not as low calorie as people think they are.

-I'd choose the prawn cocktail.

-OK.

-Shall I take that off?

Well, how many calories do you think it is?

Oh, about 60?

Great. It's 305 calories.

Good heavens! I'm surprised it's so much.

Really surprised.

How many do you think would be in the prawn cocktail?

200?

305.

You'd think it'd be low calorie, but obviously not.

How many do you think is in the garlic bread?

Oh, 1,000?

Oh!

And the main meals?

-Oh, I'd probably go for the beef stroganoff.

-OK.

And what do you think that is?

250.

418 calories.

How many calories do you think are in the chicken?

Probably 400 or 500.

It's 447.

Wow.

-And that's actually the most fattening one...

-Yes.

-..That you chose.

-I've chosen two fattening ones then so far.

But, ultimately, even if everyone had guessed the right calorie count,

Jane wants us to go back to basics.

We need to spend more time teaching people, one, how to cook.

And two, the simpler the food, the better.

In fact, if it's got a label on it

telling you how many calories are in there,

then it's bound to not be good for you.

You're best off buying products that come loose,

that come out of the shops,

and you put in your shopping bag, bring home and cook from fresh.

One of the indicators that diet food is on the rise

is the increase in the sale of emulsifiers -

a necessary addition when fat is taken out of no and low-fat foods.

Which gets me thinking about how food manufacturers

go about making those changes.

And it all comes down to what happens in the food lab.

We've been talking about diet foods.

Now, what I want to know is, if you take fat and sugar out of food,

do you have to replace it with something

to make it all look edible?

And, of course, our scientist Peter Maynard

is with us at the laboratory.

So, what's the answer, Peter?

There are certain things that you can add to bulk out a food

but which will not be digested

and therefore will not have any calorific value in your body.

If you take something like this - methyl cellulose -

this is very commonly added to foods to make them into diet foods.

Why though?

Because it swells up in contact with water and therefore

once it gets in your stomach, or indeed in the food to begin with,

it makes you feel full and it bulks out the food

without actually adding any nutrition to it.

I hate the thought that something is going into my body

that will just bulk... It's bulked out enough!

But, you know, will make my tummy feel full

when in actual fact it's not doing me any good.

It has other uses as well. It is used in wallpaper paste.

Are you being serious?

Oh, yes. It swells up so much and is a very good adhesive

and therefore it will act just like wallpaper paste.

But that, in a way, is atrocious, isn't it?

It's perfectly legal.

I see some wallpaper here, are you going to actually paste it?

-Let's have a try.

-OK.

-Let's mix some up.

Can I help this for you?

So is the experiment you're going to do,

one with the wallpaper paste and one with the...?

-Yeah, exactly. Let's start with the wallpaper paste.

-Right.

So the consistency will just be roughly the same, will it?

-When you mix it up?

-You'll see.

Yeah, I'll see. Be patient, Gloria!

We'll try the methyl now. Yes.

Can I stir that a little bit for you?

-Oh, yes, please.

-You can keep an eye on the other one.

See, I hate to think of all that gunge in my stomach

just because I'm on a slimming food.

So you're going to have the blue. Blue for the boys.

-Thank you very much.

-OK.

I've never done much wallpaper pasting in my time.

Would you like a brush? It would be handy, wouldn't it?

Thank you.

Wallpapering is not my forte but, anyway, I'll do my best.

Let's see.

Turn them over now.

So, the acid test, we must see if it's stuck properly.

OK. Remove the gunge.

What are you going to do, just hold it up?

We just hold the boards up.

See, mine has definitely stuck very, very well.

And there's no way that they're going anywhere.

Nowhere. Except into your stomach, in this case.

Well, you know what, Peter, I think in the laboratory at least,

-I've beaten you at something?

-You definitely have!

And if you ever need me to do any wallpapering in your house,

-just give me a call.

-Thank you very much!

I'm not boasting about it but I think my edges and everything

are better than yours.

Much better, much better.

Better on the board than in my stomach.

THEY LAUGH

'For the record, methyl cellulose certainly isn't harmful

'and it's widely used by the food industry.'

Now if you're looking for

an unadulterated and simple, healthy, food product

what better choice than a pure fruit juice or smoothie?

Or do you still have to keep your shopper's wits about you?

Pure fruit juice is as the industry puts it "highly on trend".

They have a greater health appeal than juice drinks,

which don't guarantee to be 100% fruit and may contain additives.

Pure fruit juice may be more expensive but consumers see it

as an important way of getting one of their five a day.

And we're getting more adventurous in our tastes.

I buy things like pineapple and coconut juice.

Maybe a bit of mango now and again.

Blueberry and cranberry.

I buy a lot of fruit juice, to be honest.

-Mango.

-Passion fruit.

The kiwi one I like.

I would really go for a single fruit juice rather than a mixed juice.

Yesterday, I bought pomegranate and I think it was cranberry.

It tasted so nice. I've never tasted that in my life!

The tropical fruit juice market in Britain is now estimated

to be worth around £140 million a year.

If you decided to get your fill of exotic fruit,

you would generally choose, say, a smoothie or a juice,

but you will pay a premium price.

But how do you know that you're actually getting

what it appears to promise on the carton?

Earlier this year, consumer champions Which? published a report

on the need for clearer food labelling.

They looked at the pictures and descriptions on the front of foods

such as juices and compared them

with the printed list of actual ingredients.

What they were looking at was the contrast between

the impression a consumer may get at a glance

and the listed ingredients.

For example, Tropicana's Mango and Passion Fruit drink,

in which the top ingredient is actually apple juice -

which constitutes 87% of what's in the carton.

Followed by 9% of mango and 4% of passion fruit.

If I bought something

and it wasn't exactly what they advertised it to be,

I would feel very cheated.

If it was showing the fruits on there then

I would expect it to be high in juice content.

I would feel a bit ripped off

that the juices were not what they were saying.

I would expect 100% of the actual fruit in my drink.

There is one way of making sure you get

what you pay for in exotic juices

and that's to see it made right in front of your eyes -

like at this London juice bar run by Khalid Undre.

Mango is a very good source of vitamin C.

One of the best fruits for vitamin C contents for the day.

In its natural form, it's got some lovely tastes and flavours to it.

This is passion fruit, it's beautiful when it's fresh.

It's got lovely flavours and textures to it.

See that?

It's beautiful.

Now, admittedly, Khalid's hand-made and freshly-pressed juice

is four times the price of PepsiCo's Tropicana.

But at least you can see how much of each fruit goes in.

We asked PepsiCo to comment they said,

"We have no plans to change the name, design or packaging

"of our mango and passion fruit juice.

"The name on the front accurately reflects the prominent flavours

"in the juice and the taste that a consumer would expect.

"We blend the mango and passion fruit with apple juice

"to provide the optimal consistency and balance of flavours.

"The apple juice is clearly labelled on the pack,

"in line with EU regulation."

I think customers should be given what it says on the label.

If it isn't, then there should be

'a law against it, in my opinion.

'If 80% is apple and oranges, it should say,

'"apple and oranges with a hint of mango."'

Well, it seems that Khalid's plea has been answered

because the law has changed.

By Christmas 2013,

manufacturers will have to order the name of the fruits

in their product by volume, starting with the largest.

A drink with three or more fruits could be labelled

as either "several fruits" or in the case of this Tropicana drink

it could be called apple, mango and passion fruit.

I think that's a really good result!

'Organic is the epitome of a healthy option.

'But it comes at a premium,

'and in the grips of one of the worst recessions in history

'how can many of us afford to go all organic?'

So, what are we actually paying for when we choose organic?

Well, the food must be certified by a recognised body

like the Soil Association.

This guarantees that 95% of ingredients

have been organically produced,

and that no artificial fertilisers have been used,

and animals have been reared to a high welfare standard.

And for investigative food journalist Joanna Blythman,

it's an obvious back-to-basics approach.

Well, of course there is this perception that organic food

is just a sort of lifestyle option for the neurotic rich

and, personally, I just don't believe that.

I mean, the key thing we need to understand is that

until 1950 or thereabouts, the food that we all ate,

that everyone ate was organic, it just wasn't called that.

But buying organic comes at a price.

For example, a pack of organic gala apples

can be as much as 30% more expensive

than it's non-organic equivalent.

No, I don't much bother with organic food actually,

cos on the whole it's more expensive.

I do buy organic food

because I know that it contains far more nutrition.

It's better for the environment, et cetera,

however, sometimes the cost is significantly more.

I do buy organic food sometimes

but most of the time it's quite expensive.

Through her research, Joanna has learned some top tips

on the most economic way to get the benefits of organic.

Buy the things where the premium for buying organic

isn't really very different.

So for example, flour,

organic flour, really, in the great span of things is not very expensive,

nor is organic yoghurt, nor are eggs, so why not have those?

I think when it comes to fruit there is a very strong argument

in certain cases for buying organic.

For example, when I was researching grapes, I really was appalled

at the level of pesticide residues on conventional grapes.

So now when I look at organic grapes, I used to think,

"Gosh, those are expensive!" And now I think,

"Thank heavens. I'll have those even if I don't have them very often."

On meat, the premium is much higher.

An organic chicken can be as much as

four times the price of a standard one.

So is it ever worth the mark-up to be sure of welfare standards?

When it comes to red meat, I'm not so worried

if I have organic beef or lamb but I do want organic pork and chicken

because I'm getting a different product there.

Largely to do with animal welfare reasons,

because I know that the pigs and chickens

will have had a much better life.

I think there's no need to be a sort of organic fanatic.

I don't think you need to say, "I have to be 100% organic or nothing."

I think you just use your common sense.

Remember to look out for logos like these from the Soil Association

and Organic Farmers and Growers

for the certified organic products you decide to shell out for.

And finally, stay healthy and stay sharp.

Retailers play on our concerns about eating healthily,

but as we've shown you today sometimes it's better

not to take those health claims at face value.

In reality, processed food so often means added sugar -

a sugar rush that just leaves us hungry for more.

Better to buy cheaper and fresh ingredients

than putting your faith totally in the food industry hype.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd