There’s no doubt that LaCroix — the comeback kid that transformed from the seltzer your mom drank to a ubiquitous libation treasured anew by the millennial gang — has amassed a dedicated following recently in the U.S. But that devotion doesn’t mean its fans know what the “essence” is in the carbonated drinks — and no one really seems to care. [More]
in.gredients
What’s In That Smell? P&G Will List All Fragrance Ingredients Online
By 8.30.17
If you’ve ever looked at the list of ingredients on a can of air freshener and wondered what, exactly, is involved in that “sea breeze” scent, you’ll have some more answers soon: Procter & Gamble is joining other companies in the push for transparency with a promise that eventually all of its smelliest home and personal care offerings will detail exactly what substances make up “fragrance.” [More]
“Herbal” Coffee Recalled For Containing Same Ingredients As Viagra, Cialis
By 5.26.17
A “natural” coffee promises to improve a drinker’s sexual desire and stamina through the use of three herbs. But it’s now being recalled after Food and Drug Administration tests found that the coffee — which has been linked to one death — actually contains the same active ingredients found in prescription erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra and Cialis. [More]
Caribou Coffee Cutting Artificial Ingredients From Beverages
By 3.13.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Weeks after Dunkin’ Donuts said it would ditch artificial colors over the next two years, fellow coffee shop chain Caribou Coffee has already established a so-called “clean label standard” for its beverages, eliminating artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners. [More]
Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robbins To Eliminate Artificial Colors From Products By 2018
By 3.2.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins on Thursday became the latest chains to join the growing list of restaurants and food producers promising to remove artificial flavors and dyes from its menus. [More]
After Blaming Ingredient Maker For Customer Stomach Issues, Soylent Could Face Shortages
By 12.21.16
Last month, meal replacement startup Soylent announced that it knew what was making customers sick after consuming its recently released nutrition bars and long-running powder: an algae-based ingredient called algal flour. While that could have been the end of the debacle, it wasn’t: the supplier for that component apparently isn’t too thrilled with having the blame placed on its shoulders, and is now cutting Soylent’s ingredient supply. [More]
The Slow Business Of Fast Food: Why It Takes McDonald’s 6 Months To Change 1 Ingredient
By 6.22.16
Why does it take three years for Wendy’s to create a new summer salad? Why did McDonald’s spend decades not listening to customers who wanted all-day breakfast? Even a seemingly simple change, like moving from margarine to butter, requires at least six months for the Golden Arches to make. [More]
Personal Care Companies Say It’s Not About What’s In Beauty Products These Days, It’s About What Isn’t
By 5.26.16
We’re used to seeing beauty product labels that tout special ingredients — this one has added vitamins for soft skin, that one uses a certain oil to calm frizz — but the new trend these days is focused more on what isn’t in those items. [More]
Companies Agree To Stop Promoting Beauty Products With Synthetic Ingredients As “All Natural”
By 4.12.16
One would assume when buying a product marketed as “all-natural” or “100% natural” that said product wouldn’t contain synthetic ingredients like phenoxyethanol or polyethylene, right? Wrong. At least, that’s the cases for five companies facing action by federal regulators for allegedly making false claims about their products’ ingredients.
Why Does My Alcohol-Free Product List Alcohol As An Ingredient?
By 3.23.16
When shopping for personal care products like antibacterial soap or hand sanitizer, many customers look for brands that don’t contain skin-drying alcohol. So what happens when you pick up an item that’s clearly marked “alcohol-free,” but upon closer inspection, the ingredients list includes at least one “alcohol” component? [More]
Campbell’s Changes Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe: Cuts Artificial Flavors, Celery & Onions
By 11.10.15
Back in July, Campbell Soup Company announced it would stop using artificial colors and flavors in all its North American products by 2018. But it turns out the packaged food company already made the changes to its iconic Chicken Noodle Soup, and it left out a few things other than hard-to-pronounce additives. [More]
Lawsuit Says Jessica Alba’s Honest Company Products Are Dishonest About “Natural” Claims
By 9.4.15
The Honest Company, co-founded by actress Jessica Alba, built its billion-dollar reputation on the fact that its products are created using natural, nontoxic elements. But a newly filed class-action lawsuit claims the company hasn’t been as honest as its name would lead one to believe, accusing the organization of deceiving consumers by selling items that actually contain unnatural and ineffective ingredients. [More]
Bread Recalled Because Broken Light Bulb Is Not Supposed To Be An Ingredient
By 8.27.15
When crafting a tasty sandwich for lunch, the one ingredient you don’t want to forget is a broken light bulb. Wait, what? Shards of light bulb certainly don’t belong in our digestive systems, that’s why Bimbo Bakeries has issued a recall of several types of bread. [More]
Taco Bell, Pizza Hut Ditching Artificial Flavors By End Of 2015
By 5.26.15
The menus for Taco Bell and Pizza Hut will soon include fewer ingredients listed under your favorite meal, as the two fast food restaurants announced Monday that they plan to ditch artificial colors and flavors by the end of the year. [More]
Panera Bread Dropping Nearly 150 Artificial Ingredients From Menu This Year
By 5.5.15
Panera Bread’s plan to remove food additives from its menu appears to be taking shape, with the restaurant announcing today that it plans to remove at least 150 artificial ingredients from its menu in the coming months. [More]
McDonald’s Changing Grilled Chicken Recipe From 18 Ingredients To 12
By 4.1.15
McDonald’s is making yet another change to its menu. This time the company plans to simplify its chicken recipe by cutting out chemical-sounding ingredients that consumers might not recognize. [More]
Food Industry Initiative Highlights How Little The FDA Knows About What’s In Our Food
By 8.28.14
For decades, the food industry has been able to use ingredients that are “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) without approval from the FDA. When first used in the ’50s, this was intended to apply to ingredients, like vegetable oils and vinegars, where an additive’s safety is common knowledge, but in 1997, a backlogged FDA allowed food companies to merely submit their GRAS findings instead of the supporting data, creating a loophole the food industry has exploited to include a vast number of chemical ingredients that manufacturers claim are safe but which don’t go through a rigorous approval process. Feeling pressure from the public to pull back the veil on the GRAS process and its ingredients, the food industry announced a transparency initiative yesterday that may be a step in the right direction, but highlights just how little the FDA seems to care about the “F” part of its name. [More]
Taco Bell Explains What All Those Unpronounceable Ingredients In Its Beef Are
By 4.28.14
I don’t know about you, but I love a hearty meal made of trehalose, torula yeast and maltodextrin, so please excuse the drool covering this post. What’s that, you don’t know what those things and a slew of other ingredients listed in Taco Bell’s beef are? No one does, so Taco Bell has taken it upon itself to explain in detail with a newly launched explanation page. [More]
