We were in PnP on Saturday and I noticed Oros now markets “Iced tea” for children. Which I thought was interesting, as over my dead body do I give them the normal mulitcoloured Oros in the little bottles, purely because of all the crap they put in it. Such as sugar for starters.
So, I was pleasantly surprised by this change of direction and took a little cup to let the kids taste, which they of course loved. I then grabbed 3 bottles off the shelf and at the last minute I turn the bottle over to look at what it has in it.
OMG.
I don’t pretend to know much about food labels, but when I see sodium this and potassium that and a string of numbers as long as my arm I think very bad thoughts. I think to myself why would I want to give this to my children. I think mutton dressed as lamb. And I get a little pissed off. Do they really think consumers are THAT stupid?
I of course Googled Oros and ended up on the Tiger Brands website (that hasn’t been updated since 1985) (mild exaggeration, I know). I would have given you a link to the new offending drink if they had it on their site and I would have been courteous and sent them a message to let them know I spoke about them, but that also proved impossible.
Sis on you Tiger Brands! This one little consumer will boycott you as far as possible.
Ice tea is one of the most unhealthiest drinks here in Germany. It is also the number 1 drink to cause acne..
Doing catch up on your blog – haven’t been online much since last week other than the odd post.
So… what exactly is penny royal?
Well done on going veggie and accommodating all those eating styles in one night! Shoo wee. Can’t say I’d even want to try tofu ice-cream. Did you?
Started Weight Watchers on Monday & have my Kj wheel out so finding my way around the small print on packages – hectic! Shocking how much sugar etc is in everything these days!
They DO make tiger oats though don’t they which I quite like!
I coulda told you that about the iced tea, iced tea is a big marketing nutrition ripoff (along with flavoured mineral water). Haven’t you noticed how overly sweet the liptons ones are? all the added bits… I cant drink them.
I dont know if the chinese shops there stock it but if you want bottled iced tea, the greentea ones from SE asia are much better.
Thanks for the visit and the tip, I’ll definitely have a look! We do eat a lot of oats in this house 🙂
Hey!
Penny Royal is awesome, you walk over it and the most amazing smell comes out of the leaves you step on.
Tofu Ice cream was fantastic, you have to give it a bash!
Why don;t you try my Low GL diet, it’s really, really easy. We are going to see Patrick Holford speak at Spier on 22 Nov if you want to come, he is apparently awesome.
Can’t wait to see you!
yip 🙂 not sure you get it there…and not preaching either but you DO get ceres and liquifruit which i miss dearly. all the fruit juice here is from concentrate with added sugar
That’s sad, we love fresh juice – diluted of course.. We (read: Me) are on a mission to live as free of additives and MSG and the likes as possible, it’s just really hard!
as you already know, I’m a labels girl 🙂 shocking what ingredients are ‘sold’ as a good product!
ps I was at Tiger Brands on Monday (possible new clients hiehie, not for purebaby, for other one)
Aloha! Now that’s funny, maybe you can sort their website out…
I was also appalled at the contents of ordinary Oros. Long before the children came along I was reading labels because my husband is asthmatic and one of his triggers is sodium benzoate. Have you any idea how many drinks have that as a preservative – even some of the “pure” fruit juices! My pet hate is aspartame – that stuff is toxic and it’s in everything labelled “diet” or “lite”. Yuck!
I was at the Toddler sense seminar and it was noted that diluted fruit juice is just a s bad as pure fruit juice when it comes to acidity and the little one’s teeth. To be honest with you I am at a total loss as to what to give my little man to drink. He is not big on water so what is left that I can give him without the added guilt trip? Any ideas?
My mom used to make our own Iced tea – Rooibos cooled down with a little bit of sugar to sweeten it! It’s lovely!
Thanks for the warning, I am a bit illeterate on labels and stuff like that!
I make Miss E cold rooibos with a bit of fruit juice added to make it a bit of an “iced tea”. But mostly she drinks water or diluted juice.
I hear you sister, that stuff is poison! Have you tried xylitol instead of sugar? I only started reading labels earlier this year and I am still getting over the shock!
Rooibos with a little treacle sugar works quite well for the girls. I also try to stick to fresh fruit juice and read the labels – was horrified to see how much crap is in the Darling juices!
Same here!
Most consumers assume things made for kids are more healthy, but it is not true. No one is looking out for your children so really it is up to us to look out for the nasty ingredients. I give Daniela’s diluted juice because she is not a big fan of water so I am also lost on what I should be giving her…
Ai,and love the fact that it’s marketed towards the kids market….SHAME ON THEM FOR SURE
You know well that Jess and I read labels religiously. I am horrified at the contents in so many products. Have you read the Slim Slab label…yuk! All the so called health bars are full of lethal contents especially if you have an ADHD child! xx
Minki loves her rooibos, I make ice tea with Baby Honeybush Rooibos (from FreshPack or Annique), extra honey and Purity apple juice.
I also make very strong plain unsweetened rooibos, freeze in ice trays and add to her water (fortunately for me she loves to drink water, providing that there are ice cubes in it).
Finally, some like minded people. I’m from the UK originally and my mum was checking labels since I and my brother were little as he had some very adverse reactions to many food colourings and preservatioves, so I started checking too. It’s really hard here to avoid them completely but some companies are coming around. Nestle have started using natural colours in their smarties which is great. My daughter is 2 1/2 and she drinks water or watered down juice and I have to check for juices that don’t have preservatives. Give her anything with bright colours in or lots of preservatives and in minutes she’s a terror, can’t concentrate and bounces all over the place, just like my brother used to do.I told a work friend about the effects of colours and preservatives on children so she started checking labels and her out of control 3 year old that was not going to sleep until 11 at night or later is now in bed and asleep by 8.30 and much calmer. Makes you think that perhaps some of those “ADHD” kids could benefit from a few dietary changes. I can’t believe that companies still prefer to use cheaper products and then boost their flavour and colour with chemicals. Ok I’m off the soapbox now, just very passionate about this topic.
Thanks for popping in, I’m so glad someone is as passionate as I am!