LABELS 201
Any supervisor worth his salt would rather deal with people
who attempt too much than with those who try too little. ~Lee Iacocca (1924 – )
The effusive program, The View, talked about products that they like and want to recommend, and one of their producers was mad for DelGrosso tomato-based pasta sauces with fanciful names like Vodka Celebration and Sun-Dried Tomato Sonata. Blown away by the price of a 26-oz jar ($8), I skipped over to their website.
I was struck by the amount of salt, especially compared to the lovely Italian gem discovered yesterday, but, to be fair, that product was a tomato sauce and these are pasta sauces. Tomato sauce turns into pasta sauce with the addition of flavorings, and salt is certainly a flavoring. Although their website is quick to point out that they use sea salt, not iodized table salt, their blends contain 420 – 640 mg sodium per serving, is 28 to 42% of the recommended daily allowance. (I’m using the American Dietitians’ Association’s recommendation of 1500 mg because, unlike the government, they have no allegiance to the food industry. If you want to use the FDA allowance of 2300 mg, this is still 18 to 28% for a single eight-ounce serving.)
Recommended daily allowances aside, it is precisely this kind of excess that has paralyzed American’s taste buds because of it’s overwhelming presence in processed food products. Salt is salt. Sea salt is better than refined salt specifically because it doesn’t have chemicals added as anti-caking agents or enrichments like iodine. Refining removes all of the nutritive elements, so refined sea salt is no better than refined table (iodized) salt. Whether or not their sea salt is refined is not addressed on their website.
To analyze one variety, Uncle Jim’s Late Night Puttanesca:
INGREDIENTS: Imported Italian Plum Tomatoes; Crushed Tomatoes; Portabella Mushrooms; Ripe Olives; Imported Olive Oil; Artichoke Hearts; Fresh Onions; Chablis Wine; Whole Capers (Capers, Water, Vinegar, Salt); Imported Pecorino Romano Cheese (Pasteurized Sheep’s Milk, Cheese Culture, Enzymes, Salt); Sea, Salt; Anchovy Paste (Cured Anchovies, Salt, De-Fatted Soy Flour, Water); Organic Sugar; Garlic; Basil; Parsley; Crushed Red Pepper and Oregano. Allergens: Contains Milk, Anchovies and Soy.
Four of the ingredients have salt: olives, capers, cheese and anchovy paste. You’d expect such a sauce to be a little heavy on the salt because those things are not only inherently salty, but very salty. Yet they still see fit to add sea salt. And that’s not even the sauce with the most sodium.
The sauce with the highest amount of added salt is Sunday Marinara, with 640 mg of salt, over 40% of the ADA’s recommended daily allowance. And, don’t forget, this is for just a half cup (8 oz); it goes up if you have more than one serving.
INGREDIENTS: Imported Whole Italian Plum Tomatoes, Imported Olive Oil, Crushed Tomatoes, Fresh Onions, Sea Salt, Garlic, Basil, Black Pepper and Parsley.
The ingredients are similar to that of the Italian Ready Cherry Tomato Sauce from yesterday’s post. A further question arises from this list: Their first ingredient is tomatoes that are imported, so the likelihood that they are not genetically-modified (GM) is probably high (even though their website does not indicate). Using imported tomatoes would explain the high cost of this item. So then, what about the third ingredient: crushed tomatoes? Presumably they are domestic and, it begs to be asked, are they a GM product? And does using GM tomatoes negate the value of the imported tomatoes? They say that they jury’s still out on the GM question, but perhaps it does if you think it does.
While writing this, I was called by Mr DelGrasso himself, a third generation Italian American whose grandparents began the company. I have to say, this was impressive in an age where family owned and operated businesses are on the decline, and small food manufacturers are being gobbled up by conglomerates. I had an extensive conversation about their sauces, mostly about the salt content. I was told that they have just shipped their first low-sodium product. Well, that is good news. Surprising that they’re keeping this a secret for website visitors. Not all of their products have a low-sodium alternative, and the amount of salt was reduced to 340 to 400 mg, depending upon the product. Still a lot of salt in there. He offered to send me the new food labels, but I’d just as soon see it on their website for all of their customers.
Mr DelGrasso went on to clarify the tomato question, explaining that imported tomatoes have a thinner consistency when cooked down, and that domestic tomatoes provided a thicker texture to the finished sauce. He also stated that it was not a GMO product. Regarding the sea salt, he did not know if they used refined sea salt. More important information for their website.
JUST SO YOU KNOW . . .
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more bizarre, they’ve come out with an ice cream flavored toothpaste. One perky parent remarked, “It’s great. My kid can’t wait to brush his teeth!” Have our cravings for sugar and fat so overtaken our tastebuds that we simply can’t stand to put anything in our mouth except the most sweet and delicious flavors, even for routine hygiene?
