Have you seen some of the self-serving product labels lately?
They are popping up everywhere.
The latest for me was the smoked sausage product that was guaranteed to be made from “hormone free” pork products. There was an asterisk on the guarantee, so I looked. It stated that the USDA did not allow ANY hormones to be used in ANY pork products. In other words, all pork products are hormone free. This company was not making a false claim, they were not false advertising. What they were doing was pretending to differentiate themselves from their competitors by using the same type of product as their competitors were using. I give them kudos for creativeness, but take away any of their bonus points for their misleading the public.
As bad as that is, it pales in comparison to the “gluten-free” labels that seem to be ubiquitous on every damned product that does not have gluten (primarily wheat) in them. But it has gotten out of hand. You expect to see it in baked products, pastas, and such things. But, oh no, you are seeing gluten-free on hard candies, meat snacks, and (this is my favorite) other-the-counter pain killers.
Now I know that there are people who have gluten intolerance, in it’s most severe manifestation full-blown celiac disease. I am also aware that it is the “disease of the month” with everyone who wants to be different being glucose intolerant. But I am also aware that if you truly have a problem with gluten, you are going to educate yourself as to what exactly the hell gluten is. And you are going to know that gluten is not going to be in sugar, for goodness sake. Nor for the starch products to make medicine.
In any case, these labels are just plain self-serving. Or if not, are they assuming that their customers that damned dumb? Could be!
