Flash in the Pan

I recently reviewed Hormel Compleats - a line of one-dish meals that store on the shelf without refrigeration. The company's PR representatives just emailed in response to my comments on the sodium content:

I did want to clarify your statement on sodium content. The USDA recommends that healthy Americans get 2,300 milligrams per day. (USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, Chapter 8 “Sodium and Potassium - http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/html/chapter8.htm) At 600 milligrams or less, Hormel Compleats products provide roughly a quarter or less of the sodium recommendation per day. The sodium content in Hormel Compleats is equal to or less than other single serving shelf-stable offerings in the market today.

I think the PR firm meant that it wanted to challenge my statement, as I don't see how it would be in the position to clarify what I had said. In any case, the product may hover around the same sodium content as other shelf-stable offerings, but the company's analysis is off and even misleading. First, the USDA reference cited does not recommend that people get 2,300 mg of sodium, but less than 2,300 mg of sodium, which is a significantly different statement. If you are middle-aged or older, black, or have hypertension, the top number is 1,500 mg. But that's not the USDA's only statement on sodium.

Instead, let's consider this from the second chapter, Adequate Nutrients Within Calorie Needs, of the same USDA 2005 dietary guidelines. I'd argue that looking at nutritional needs would be closer to the concept of a recommended minimum amount, and that the 2,000 Kcal nutrition levels are near an adult average, given gender and activity levels, which can widely swing the recommendations. That 2,000 Kcal number is the general baseline used for nutritional comparisons on food levels. For that level of caloric intake, the recommended sodium number is 1,779 mg. And here’s an interesting paragraph from the same chapter the company quoted:

Common sources of sodium found in the food supply are provided in figure 4. On average, the natural salt content of food accounts for only about 10 percent of total intake, while discretionary salt use (i.e., salt added at the table or while cooking) provides another 5 to 10 percent of total intake. Approximately 75 percent is derived from salt added by manufacturers.

In other words, packaged foods - shelf-stable or not - put the largest amount of sodium per serving into our diets. On the whole, I think that my analysis is probably more realistic in terms of viewing a food as "healthy" or not, and certainly closer to what a health professional would likely say than taking the number Hormel does and trying to interpret it as a recommended amount that people should have, rather than a maximum, with the understanding that, for salt, less is certainly more.

Labels: food, nutrition, PR, product, review

I finally heard back from Gourmet Garden's PR firm. Readers may remember that, uncharacteristically, I completely and satirically panned the company's herb and spice mixes. And then a response appeared from someone named "Jennifer" - a message so relentlessly Pollyanna-ish in its defense of the taaste of the products that I had to mock it. I emaield the PR people to ask if they or Gourmet Garden was the source.

I just got a response from the PR firm. It didn't address this mysterious Jennifer, but I think some account manager wanted to ensure that I still had all my marbles:

I wanted to follow up on your review of the Gourmet Garden samples that my colleague Kaitlin Kenny sent you last week and say that we appreciate your taking the time to try the product.

Oh, I'm sure you do.

However, I wanted to let you know that Gourmet Garden squeezable herbs and spices are meant as an ingredient and not to be used for eating as a concentrate straight from the tube. Many herbs and spices, whether fresh or dried, are not meant to be eaten on their own or straight from the jar or package, and Gourmet Garden follows suit with this industry wide understanding.

No. Really? People put spices and herbs in food they're cooking? Well, damn, all these decades I've been taking a shot of thyme or oregano after each bite. That'll certainly make things easier.

However, to cook well, you have to know what the ingredients are like. There are plenty of spices and herbs that I've smelled and tasted to get a sense of them. I've tried many types of basil and know what the varieties are supposed to taste like. No, I wouldn't normally eat basil for fun - but I would take a taste of a new variety before using it.

Furthermore, the only way to know if an individual ingredient is good, you have to know what it tastes like by itself. If I had dumped some of this material into something I was cooking, the overall flavors might have masked the problem - not that you or the manufacturer would ever want that to happen, I'm sure.

With that being said, Gourmet Garden is a highly popular product for health-conscious consumers who want a good-tasting, convenient yet inexpensive alternative in their meal preparation.

And lacking that, they use this product?

Since the use of fresh herbs and spices can be time consuming and sometimes inconvenient,...

It's such a burden to chop some parsley or cilantro. Or to shake some from a jar. I can't count the number of minutes I've wasted trying to add a teaspoon of oregano. Oh, and I remember a note on the tubes that in the freezer they only last three months. So just how long would they last in the fridge? Would the consumer have to buy them almost as frequently as fresh?

...Gourmet Garden offers a solution.

And that's the problem.

Incorporating herbs & spices into a meal and reaping the extra flavor as well as health benefits can be simpler for those with a busy lifestyle.

Health benefits? What health benefits? Benefits to the health of the company's bank account? Next thing will be that Gourmet Garden is important for the sake of the children.

The products have received high marks from many consumers and media.

What, the owner's parents and the many magazines and newspapers that run new product sections without ever having tried what they tout?

In fact, we have received an incredible amount of positive feedback from customers, dietitians and nutritionists, and fellow media correspondents from all over the world commenting on the products' authentic fresh taste, flavor, and ease of use.

Do you think their reaction to the "authentic fresh taste" was to the herb, the dextrose, the whey, or the glycerin?

Conversely, we do understand that there is room for different opinions in the marketplace and that not everyone will have the same likes and tastes.

Oh, I am so glad to hear that. I was worried that you were trying to use the rhetorical tricks knows as generalization and band wagon to convince me that when it tasted bad to me, it was my fault because I didn't mix it with so many other ingredients that the odd flavors didn't hit me quite so squarely in the face.

Labels: opinion, PR, review

At about 1:08 I posted a review of Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices and, as I generally do, sent a link to the company's PR firm. By around 2:15, someone named "Jenifer" tried to post a response - no last name or company affiliation, but given the phrasing, it seemed clearly to come from a partisan view. At about 3:15 I emailed the PR person asking who Jennifer was, and by close to 8pm have received no response, so I think my guess is probably accurate, whether a member of the PR firm or of the company itself, I can't tell. So let's have a look at the attempted posting:

I'm surprised you had such a strong reaction to the GG products.

So was I; it's rare to find something that bad.

Have you tried cooking with them?

I didn't have the heart to do that to an otherwise perfectly good dish. That seems tantamount to advocating a turned bottle of wine as an additives to a sauce. Umm .... no.

I think they are a good way to get close to fresh,...

The way Billings, Montana is close to Melbourne, Australia.

... and they are super convenient for those, like me, who love fresh herbs, but have trouble using them all up before they wilt or die.

The ingredients of the "Basil Herb Blend" are "basil, dextrose, whey (milk), sodium lactate, canola oil, fructose, glycerine, salt, sodium ascorbate to help protect flavor, ascorbic acid to promote color retention, xanthan gum, citric acid to promote color retention." Nope, it's not going to go bad, though I think I'm retaining something after trying it.

In any case, I think they are a good thing to have on hand, like reserves of soup or pasta in the pantry.

Or wasp spray in the gardening shed.

As a side note, there is fascinating research into the genetically determined ways different people taste things. Maybe you're tasting something some of us aren't?

I am genetically equipped with senses of smell and taste. Could you, perhaps, be missing them?

Labels: posting, PR, review

According to Reuters, a Noweegian food retailer is apparently making news for providing a refund if customers don't like something they've purchased. Have I walked into the Twilight Zone, or hasn't this been the standard operating procedure at American stores for, oh, decades? Certainly places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's do this, but I've also seen supermarkets that have taken back product when there's any kind of problem. Then again, it's probably a calculated move. If somethings returned, the store can get credit from the distributor, and it's probably unlikely that people will bother to go back to the store. I still don't see how this became an interntional story, other than smart PR on the part of someone or other.

Labels: groceries, PR