Wednesday
Oct072009
Nestle Answers: Preservatives, Sodium and Stouffer's
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
This is one of a series of posts that features Nestle's answers to my questions that came out of the Nestle Family event. To access the other questions and answers, go to follow-up questions for Nestle and click on the questions you are interested in. Answers will be posted as they are received and analyzed.
You told the bloggers that Stouffer’s meals contain no preservatives and they tweeted about it. I assume they misheard you, since most of the Stouffer’s meals seem to have a sodium content of between 25% and 40% of the daily recommended allowance for an adult in one serving. If my 2.5 year old were to have one serving of your Family Vegetable Lasagna, she would be getting 100% of her recommended daily sodium intake from that one piece of lasagna. Salt/sodium is a well-known preservative. Please explain (a) why you would characterize Stouffer’s as preservative free and (b) why you feel it is appropriate to market foods with dangerously high sodium levels to families.
It's evident that you are a concerned mother and you're seeking more information to aid you in making good choices for your family. We appreciate your concern so referred your specific questions about our Stouffer's brand to our team in Solon, Ohio which includes microbiologists, RDs and nutritionists. The technical team reviewed your questions and provided the answers below. Hope this is helpful information to you, Roz O'Hearn
Yes, we told our Nestle Family blogger guests that our Stouffer's meals contain NO preservatives--because this is true. Freezing is a natural method of preservation so we don't need to include preservative ingredients. Regarding sodium, only when it is present in concentrations high enough to lower available water-to-bacteria-to-water activities to below 0.85 is it considered a preservative. If sodium were used as preservative in our Stouffer's recipes, it would need to present at much higher levels--which is not necessary. Our product development teams, who are trained in both food science and the culinary arts, use sodium for flavor and seasoning --which is an important feature of our Stouffer's recipes.
As you know, nutrition and ingredient information is readily available on the back of every Stouffer's package. One additional point: You may also read that we worked to remove TFAs from our products. Today, there remain only a few Stouffer's varieties that still declare TFAs on the label; we think it's important to note that those TFAs are naturally occurring from either the beef or dairy ingredients in those recipes.
Regarding your specific query about your 2.5 year old and Stouffer's Vegetable Lasagna, our nutritionists reviewed and offer this information:
We appreciate your interest in our products and hope you will visit our website often for the latest information on our products and promotions.
There are two issues here. The first is preservatives and the second is the sodium levels and general nutritional value.
When the Nestle Family bloggers were learning about Stouffer's meals, apparently Pauline (@OHmommy) from Classy Chaos mentioned that she doesn't feed her family frozen meals and asked if they would feed it to their kids. The response from the Nestle team was that there are no preservatives at all in Stouffer's meals.
This prompted a flood of tweets with this great news, like this one:
I find it interesting that Nestle chose to mention the absence of preservatives as a way to quell any concerns about the nutritional value of their frozen processed dinners. Especially since [quoting the Nestle answer above] "freezing is a natural method of preservation so we don't need to include preservative ingredients."
So, if we knew we were talking about frozen foods and freezing is a natural method of preservation, then why was it relevant to mention that there are no preservatives? Sounds like the nutritional equivalent of greenwashing. In other words, an unjustified appropriation of nutritional value where none really exists.
According to the Institute of Medicine, which was jointly commissioned by the Canadian and U.S. governments to determine appropriate sodium levels for dietary consumption, recommended sodium intake for each age group is:
According to the USDA Food Guide, which Nestle references above, for toddlers (1 to 3 years old) the maximum daily intake level of sodium to avoid adverse affects is 1500mg per day. In its answer above, Nestle mentions that the recommended sodium level for toddlers is 1500mg per day. That is not correct. The absolute maximum a toddler should be getting per day is 1500mg. The recommended sodium level for toddlers is 1000mg.
To be fair to Nestle, Stouffer's is not the only brand with dangerously high sodium levels. But processed foods, of which Stouffer's is a part, is responsible for 77% of the sodium intake in our diets, as can be seen in this chart from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
But to characterize Stouffer's as a healthy alternative for a family meal is ridiculous. On its Web site, Stouffer's says:
That is the problem. Eating Stouffer's is not eating well. Eating Stouffer's is like eating fast food. While there is no problem with fast food as a treat every once in a while, characterizing Stouffer's as a way to eat well is not accurate. Some of the Nestle Family bloggers noted that they knew frozen processed foods weren't great, but still better than McDonald's. That, unfortunately, is also not really true (or not by more than an inch). If a toddler eats half of the adult serving size of the Family Vegetable Lasagna (as Nestle suggested in its answer above), that would be 160 calories, 6.5 grams of fat (including 3 grams of saturated fat), and 455mg of sodium (close to half of the child's daily recommended amount). In comparison, a McDonald's hamburger with ketchup is not much worse at 250 calories, 9 grams of fat (including 3.5 grams of saturated fat), and 470mg of sodium. The 4 piece chicken McNuggets is 190 calories, 12 grams of fat (including 2 grams of saturated fat), and 400mg of sodium. I'm not saying that McDonald's is great (far from it), but if I am going to give my kids a treat, my bet is they would choose going out for a burger over having Stouffer's lasagna any day.
Note: I didn't include the "sides" in my analysis above because there are so many options in terms of what you could serve with your Stouffer's lasagna and what you can choose as a side at McDonald's that the comparisons would get too complex. You can go very healthy or very unhealthy on the sides either way.
I don't love feeding my family processed food. But as a busy working mom, I do throw a frozen lasagna or frozen pizza in the oven more often than I would like. But I do read the labels. I try to find the best alternative among the ones out there. I think even the best still have a ways to go in terms of reducing the levels of sodium and saturated fat. I think it is possible to make a tasy nutritious frozen meal with less fat and less salt. The thing is that to make something tasty, you need to either include salt (which is cheap) or include more tasty ingredients like great vegetables (which are expensive). Replacing the salt with other tasty but healthy ingredients would decrease profits. That is the real issue here. It is cheaper to keep you addicted to their foods by adding more salt, than by adding nutritious foods.
Tonight, I did feed my family a frozen lasagna. One that had the same number of calories per adult serving (320 calories), but that had only 69% as much sodium and was still plenty tasty (i.e. salty). I think there is plenty of room to improve. Not just for Stouffer's, but for the whole industry. Our sodium levels are twice what they should be and more than 3/4 of our sodium is coming from processed foods. We need the industry's help to reduce sodium levels or we need to stop buying their stuff.
Which would you prefer Nestle?
Question
You told the bloggers that Stouffer’s meals contain no preservatives and they tweeted about it. I assume they misheard you, since most of the Stouffer’s meals seem to have a sodium content of between 25% and 40% of the daily recommended allowance for an adult in one serving. If my 2.5 year old were to have one serving of your Family Vegetable Lasagna, she would be getting 100% of her recommended daily sodium intake from that one piece of lasagna. Salt/sodium is a well-known preservative. Please explain (a) why you would characterize Stouffer’s as preservative free and (b) why you feel it is appropriate to market foods with dangerously high sodium levels to families.
Nestle's Answer
It's evident that you are a concerned mother and you're seeking more information to aid you in making good choices for your family. We appreciate your concern so referred your specific questions about our Stouffer's brand to our team in Solon, Ohio which includes microbiologists, RDs and nutritionists. The technical team reviewed your questions and provided the answers below. Hope this is helpful information to you, Roz O'Hearn
Yes, we told our Nestle Family blogger guests that our Stouffer's meals contain NO preservatives--because this is true. Freezing is a natural method of preservation so we don't need to include preservative ingredients. Regarding sodium, only when it is present in concentrations high enough to lower available water-to-bacteria-to-water activities to below 0.85 is it considered a preservative. If sodium were used as preservative in our Stouffer's recipes, it would need to present at much higher levels--which is not necessary. Our product development teams, who are trained in both food science and the culinary arts, use sodium for flavor and seasoning --which is an important feature of our Stouffer's recipes.
As you know, nutrition and ingredient information is readily available on the back of every Stouffer's package. One additional point: You may also read that we worked to remove TFAs from our products. Today, there remain only a few Stouffer's varieties that still declare TFAs on the label; we think it's important to note that those TFAs are naturally occurring from either the beef or dairy ingredients in those recipes.
Regarding your specific query about your 2.5 year old and Stouffer's Vegetable Lasagna, our nutritionists reviewed and offer this information:
- Toddlers 1 - 3 years of age should consume about 1000 - 1500 calories per day; the recommended sodium level is 1500mg per day.
- The guideline for appropriate serving size is 1/4 of an adult portion per year of age. So a two year old should consume 1/2 of an adult portion.
- Our family size meals range in sodium from 25 - 40% of DV for adults.
- A toddler eating a toddler-size portion would consume less sodium. The serving size for our Party size vegetable lasagna is 8 ounces which provides 40% of DV for sodium for an adult. Therefore, a 2 year old would consume, at most, a 4 oz serving which would provide 32% of their DV for sodium.
- This information comes from the USDA Food Guide and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, which are the most current guidelines.
We appreciate your interest in our products and hope you will visit our website often for the latest information on our products and promotions.
My Response
There are two issues here. The first is preservatives and the second is the sodium levels and general nutritional value.
Preservatives
When the Nestle Family bloggers were learning about Stouffer's meals, apparently Pauline (@OHmommy) from Classy Chaos mentioned that she doesn't feed her family frozen meals and asked if they would feed it to their kids. The response from the Nestle team was that there are no preservatives at all in Stouffer's meals.
This prompted a flood of tweets with this great news, like this one:
I find it interesting that Nestle chose to mention the absence of preservatives as a way to quell any concerns about the nutritional value of their frozen processed dinners. Especially since [quoting the Nestle answer above] "freezing is a natural method of preservation so we don't need to include preservative ingredients."
So, if we knew we were talking about frozen foods and freezing is a natural method of preservation, then why was it relevant to mention that there are no preservatives? Sounds like the nutritional equivalent of greenwashing. In other words, an unjustified appropriation of nutritional value where none really exists.
Sodium Levels
According to the Institute of Medicine, which was jointly commissioned by the Canadian and U.S. governments to determine appropriate sodium levels for dietary consumption, recommended sodium intake for each age group is:
- 1000 mg for children aged 1 to 3
- 1200 mg for children aged 4 to 8
- 1500 mg for people aged 9 to 50
- 1300 mg for adults aged 51 to 70
- 1200 mg for seniors aged 70+
According to the USDA Food Guide, which Nestle references above, for toddlers (1 to 3 years old) the maximum daily intake level of sodium to avoid adverse affects is 1500mg per day. In its answer above, Nestle mentions that the recommended sodium level for toddlers is 1500mg per day. That is not correct. The absolute maximum a toddler should be getting per day is 1500mg. The recommended sodium level for toddlers is 1000mg.
To be fair to Nestle, Stouffer's is not the only brand with dangerously high sodium levels. But processed foods, of which Stouffer's is a part, is responsible for 77% of the sodium intake in our diets, as can be seen in this chart from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.But to characterize Stouffer's as a healthy alternative for a family meal is ridiculous. On its Web site, Stouffer's says:
We know it’s not always easy to eat well. But why should you compromise, when you don’t have to? With STOUFFER’S quality meals in your freezer, you can rest assured your dinner will be exceptionally tasty.
That is the problem. Eating Stouffer's is not eating well. Eating Stouffer's is like eating fast food. While there is no problem with fast food as a treat every once in a while, characterizing Stouffer's as a way to eat well is not accurate. Some of the Nestle Family bloggers noted that they knew frozen processed foods weren't great, but still better than McDonald's. That, unfortunately, is also not really true (or not by more than an inch). If a toddler eats half of the adult serving size of the Family Vegetable Lasagna (as Nestle suggested in its answer above), that would be 160 calories, 6.5 grams of fat (including 3 grams of saturated fat), and 455mg of sodium (close to half of the child's daily recommended amount). In comparison, a McDonald's hamburger with ketchup is not much worse at 250 calories, 9 grams of fat (including 3.5 grams of saturated fat), and 470mg of sodium. The 4 piece chicken McNuggets is 190 calories, 12 grams of fat (including 2 grams of saturated fat), and 400mg of sodium. I'm not saying that McDonald's is great (far from it), but if I am going to give my kids a treat, my bet is they would choose going out for a burger over having Stouffer's lasagna any day.
Note: I didn't include the "sides" in my analysis above because there are so many options in terms of what you could serve with your Stouffer's lasagna and what you can choose as a side at McDonald's that the comparisons would get too complex. You can go very healthy or very unhealthy on the sides either way.
I don't love feeding my family processed food. But as a busy working mom, I do throw a frozen lasagna or frozen pizza in the oven more often than I would like. But I do read the labels. I try to find the best alternative among the ones out there. I think even the best still have a ways to go in terms of reducing the levels of sodium and saturated fat. I think it is possible to make a tasy nutritious frozen meal with less fat and less salt. The thing is that to make something tasty, you need to either include salt (which is cheap) or include more tasty ingredients like great vegetables (which are expensive). Replacing the salt with other tasty but healthy ingredients would decrease profits. That is the real issue here. It is cheaper to keep you addicted to their foods by adding more salt, than by adding nutritious foods.
Tonight, I did feed my family a frozen lasagna. One that had the same number of calories per adult serving (320 calories), but that had only 69% as much sodium and was still plenty tasty (i.e. salty). I think there is plenty of room to improve. Not just for Stouffer's, but for the whole industry. Our sodium levels are twice what they should be and more than 3/4 of our sodium is coming from processed foods. We need the industry's help to reduce sodium levels or we need to stop buying their stuff.
Which would you prefer Nestle?
Reader Comments (51)
all I want to know is what products you have that donnt have preservatives in then as you commercial said