Tostito's Medium Salsa con Queso
THE GOOD: There is real cheese in it! And vegetables!
THE BAD: This one has 2.5 grams of fat per serving. Which is only 2 Tablespoons. Which is about 4 chips the way I dip. It also has 1 gram of saturated fat per serving (4% of your daily value). It contains 40 calories per serving and 25 calories from fat.
THE UGLY: With real cheese comes heavy preservatives and fillers. A lot of them.
Notes About the Ingredients:
-Monosodium
Glutamate (MSG)- a flavor enhancer lower in sodium than table salt. Frequently
blamed for side effects, but research data shows little evidence for these
-Sodium
Hexametaphosphate- preservative; generally recognized as safe my the FDA, but
amounts are limited and regulated; completely chemically derived
-Yellow
5 & 6- Man made; "derived primarily from petroleum and coal
sources"(http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/Consumer Updates/ucm048951.htm);
there is a known but uncommon allergy to Yellow 5
-Datem-diacetyl
tartaric acid ester of mono and diglycerides; emulsifier; generally excepted as
safe manufactured through chemical synthesis
-Modified Corn Starch: Primarily used as a filler and thickener.
"Modified
starch, also called starch derivatives, are prepared by physically,
enzymatically, or chemically treating native starch to change its
properties" Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_starch
-maltodextrin-
a glucose based sugar produced from starch (corn); also used as a thickener
THE VERDICT: D- The preservatives are similar to those in onion dip. On the plus side there are trace amounts of vegetables in these! I'll stick to guacamole if I want to punch up my chips and salsa.
Trader Joe's Queso Cheese Dip
THE GOOD: There is real cheese in it! Also, this product is very low in fat and calories. There are 0 grams of fat per serving and 15 calories per serving. You can eat the whole jar without exceeding 2000 calories. (Not that I recommend that).
THE BAD: "Cheese blend"- it contains real cheese, but it's full of fillers- food starches, sugars, stabilizers.
THE UGLY: Despite the fact that this brand uses only "natural" preservatives and additives, there are still just as many of these present in this brand to maintain texture and freshness.
Some notes about the ingredients:
- calcium chloride- a salt and firming agent; generally recognized as safe; generally prohibited in organic crop production
- lactose and dextrose- natural sugars
-annatto- natural food coloring; derived from the seeds of the achiote tree;slight risk of allergic reaction
- xantham gum- derived from the fermentation of lactose, glucose, and sucrose; used as thickening agent and stabilizer
-maltodextrin- a glucose based sugar produced from starch (corn); also used as a thickener
-Modified Corn Starch: Primarily used as a filler and thickener. "Modified starch, also called starch derivatives, are prepared by physically, enzymatically, or chemically treating native starch to change its properties" Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_starch
The Verdict: C-/ D+ Even with "natural" processing and "natural" preservatives it's clear that it takes a lot of additives to make "nacho cheese." Even the color is fake, and there are more filler ingredients than actual cheese.
The Verdict: C-/ D+ Even with "natural" processing and "natural" preservatives it's clear that it takes a lot of additives to make "nacho cheese." Even the color is fake, and there are more filler ingredients than actual cheese.
