KIND Healthy Snacks (KIND) continues to blow the whistle on the prevalent use of
sweeteners in today’s popular snack foods. In the latest component of its educational journey,
KIND — which has long disclosed the sugar in its
snacks
and challenged other snack
companies
to reduce the sugar in theirs — today unveiled an online
database and an augmented reality
installation in New York City that showcase the multitude of different
sweeteners and sugar sources hidden in top-selling snacks.
“There are more than 100 different names and types of sweeteners and sugar
sources out there. Many of these are still foreign to me, and there’s no doubt
that consumers are also confused,” says Daniel Lubetzky, founder & CEO of
KIND. “When some of the top-selling snacks many people believe to be healthy
have a similar sugar profile as a dessert, that’s a problem. People deserve to
know what they’re eating.”
The pop-up display comes at a time when sweeteners and sugar sources are more
rampant in snacks than ever. Nearly 75 percent of packaged foods and drinks in
the U.S. contain a sugar or low-calorie sweetener, according to a study in The
Lancet.
In a survey[^1] fielded by Washington, DC-based Morning Consult, 41
percent of respondents say when they read a food label, they don’t understand
which ingredients are sweeteners.
“While people's focus surrounding sweeteners is increasing, there’s little
understanding of how to identify them on food labels,” says Stephanie
Csaszar, Registered Dietitian and Health & Wellness Expert at KIND. “How can
we expect consumers to know that hydrogenated starch is a mixture of sugar
alcohols such as sorbitol and maltitol, or that sucanat is a less-refined version
of cane sugar? Through this effort, we aim to bring greater awareness to the
100+ name variations and types of sweeteners and sugar sources found in foods
that individuals might not realize they’re consuming daily.”
KIND’s sugar-awareness crusade augments similar efforts from Panera Bread, which,
since the launch of its “Food as It Should Be” campaign back in 2014, shared its
journey towards serving only “100% clean” food, which it achieved in early
2017.
Along the way, the restaurant chain launched a series of “100% clean,”
non-carbonated craft
beverages
made with no artificial sweeteners, preservatives, flavors or colors; along with
a 'sweet facts’ fountain beverage
cup,
which lists the calories and added sugar in each of its six new craft drinks, as
well as regular sodas.
As KIND points out in a statement, snack foods such as energy and snack bars,
yogurt, cereal and granola have long been perceived as overall healthy choices,
but KIND’s pop-up shop and online database reveal that the sweetener content of
many options in those aisles are at similar levels to that in desserts and
frozen treats. For example, some energy bars are comprised of more than 30
percent sugar.
"Added sweeteners are masters of disguise and most Americans consume too much
from all the various forms,” says Jeannie Gazzaniga-Moloo, PhD, RDN at
California State University, Sacramento. “I teach this to hundreds of my
undergraduate students each year as one of my take-home points.”
Image credit: KIND Healthy Snacks
The ‘Sweeteners Uncovered’ pop-up shop will leverage augmented-reality
technology to not only highlight the total sugar content of some of the US’s
favorite snacks, but also the obscure sweetener names that they are hiding
behind. The installation will be open to the general public at 579 Broadway
in SoHo from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM EST today (4/10) and tomorrow (4/11), while
the initiative and national index will be available online at
www.sweetenersuncovered.com.
KIND’s latest campaign comes weeks after the company filed a citizens’
petition to
the US Food and Drug Administration, regarding the nutrient content claims made
on the front of food packages — the current regulation looks at the quantity of
a nutrient instead of the quality of the overall food, which enables food
marketers to put misleading claims on unhealthy products.
It also comes after a public
challenge
last month from rival Clif Bar
(whose products are front and center on the Sweeteners Uncovered site), urging
KIND to use organic ingredients — the company even offered to supply 10 tons of
organic ingredients.
As Lubetzky told Ad
Age: “The work that they did was a little bit of a stunt that was purportedly trying
to engage us.”
He went on to say the two companies haven’t had a discussion and that he stands
by KIND’s ingredients: Many of KIND’s products contain almonds as the first
ingredient, “which are more expensive than brown rice syrup, whether it’s
organic or not,” he said. “Sugar, whether organic or not, is sugar.”
Still, it wasn't just a stunt: Clif Bar told Ad Age that its campaign prompted 18 companies to respond
with an interest in going organic.
[^1]: This poll was funded by KIND and conducted from February 27-March 3, 2019,
among a national sample of 2200 adults.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Apr 10, 2019 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST