Knowing your foods – Natural vs. Organic

Imagine you’re shopping for some groceries. Most products have very appealing packaging, in order to try and persuade you to buy the goods (in favour of their competition). Some of these foods have food claims in order to inform you about their benefits. When strolling through the supermarket, you come across a new applesauce brand, and are eager to try it. There are 2 jars that you can choose from: one with an “organic” label on it, whereas the other one says “natural”. What jar would you choose?

Food Claims 

Did you pick the “natural” applesauce jar? If you did, then you’re like the majority of consumers. But why did you make that choice? Does it sound better? And is it this really a better choice? Do you know what these claims really mean?

Take it with a grain of salt! .... or not?

Everybody consumes salt on a daily basis. It is present in most of our food, either naturally (such as in meats or vegetables), as an added substance for flavour, or as a preservative (such as in cheese, bacon, canned foods, and most convenience foods). The main sources of salt in our diet are bread and cereal products, meat products and milk and dairy products (Buss & Robertson, 1973), next to the use of table salt. But what is salt?

     Common salt is a mineral that consists out of 2 elements (and sometimes some trace elements): sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl). Normally, salt crystals are translucent but appear to be white and are cubic in shape. If table salt contains e.g. impurities or added elements, it may have a different shade of white such as a white with a pink or blue hue.

Source: salt-91539_960_720.jpg