News

When it comes to the crunch

A new survey in January’s The Food Magazine shows that when it comes to the crunch most muesli and cereal-based bars do not deserve their healthy image:

• Although many are labelled as ‘high fibre’, none of the bars met the government Food Advisory Committee’s high fibre criteria of 6g dietary fibre per bar, and some contained as little as 1g.
• There may be more sugar in a cereal bar than in a bar of milk chocolate. While claiming to have ‘no added sugar’, many bars in fact contain large amounts of ‘hidden’ sugar, mostly from dried fruit.
• Weight for weight the calories in a fruit bar can be the same as in a Mars Bar.
• Many cereal bars have the same fat content as a Mars Bar.
• Vitamen and mineral levels in cereal bars are not much higher than in chocolate digestive biscuits or currant bars.
• Perhaps unsurprisingly, manufacturers are reluctant to supply adequate nutritional information on wrappers — or to the London Food Commission.

Tim Lobstein, co-editor of The Food Magazine, says: ‘The findings of this survey highlight the need for full compulsory nutritional labelling, so far denied to the public. The use of misleading claims should be minimised, allowing comprehensive nutrition information to present a true picture.’