What's In Your Food?
This segment was first broadcast on Oct. 7, 2007.
The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.
I don't think many people read the labels listing the ingredients on packages of food they are going to eat. They don't want to ruin our appetite.
I find that sometimes what isn't in something is more surprising than what is in it. For example, there's something called "Strawberry Cream." Can you guess what two ingredients there aren't any of in Strawberry Cream? Why strawberries and cream, of course. Not a single strawberry listed, and the only cream is cream cheese. They've got "high fructose corn syrup" in there. "Modified starches" ... "partially hydrogenated soybean oil" but don't look for a strawberry.
It's surprising how many things have "partially hydrogenated" stuff in them. As far as I know we don't have a single bottle of "partially hydrogenated" anything in our kitchen.
There's a little box of Lemon Jello. It's not real lemon. It says it's "Naturally Fat Free." I guess its "Naturally Lemon Free," too, but it doesn't mention that. The picture on the box is a real lemon but it says "Artificial Flavor." I suppose artificial lemon is cheaper than real lemon but I don't know why that should be.
There is a box of stuff called "Key Lime Bars." Limes are green of course and there's a lot of green on the box but no sign of a lime in it anywhere. It recommends adding two drops of green food coloring, if you like green food.
There's a box of "Sweet Potato Pancake Mix Artificially Flavored." Do artificially flavored sweet potatoes appeal to you?
There is called "Hamburger Helper." It's guaranteed by Betty Crocker. I don't know why they don't leave poor Betty alone. We all know there is no such person -- never was such a person -- as "Betty Crocker." "Betty Crocker" is a crock.
There's a can of College Inn Chicken Broth. It contains less than one percent of the following ingredients: salt, dextrose, chicken fat, monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed wheat gluten protein, natural flavor, water, autolyzed yeast extract.
You may have noticed I have a cold. I'm trying to get over it by taking partially hydrogenated, artificially-flavored cough syrup!
Written By Andy Rooney