Long way to go but it's all in the label

We have a long way to go. By this I mean in being transparent. Funny how it is, transparency being the catchword here. It is not only bandied about in the political realm but nevertheless also glaringly absent where local products are concerned. Yes, I am griping again about local products. It seems to me that local manufacturers of consumer goods are out to take us for a ride, no – not in their Bentleys or Maybachs but to outright con you out of your hardearned cash. Read on :

1.Have you ever observed that weights of local products are well nigh invisible or so inconspicous that you have to turn the package over a few times before you can see the indicated weight – very often hidden among other text pertaining to the item or printed in non-contrasting colours in tiny fonts that is very difficult to discern without a magnifying glass. It is not some oversight but a devious measure to confuse you and make you unable to compare weights vis-a-vis price among competing brands. Guilty product lines include biscuits, noodles, confectionery, etc. Cunning, isn't it? This phenomenon is not seen in imported products- their weights and volumes being conspicously displayed on the frontal panels of the packages most of the time. Our locally based manufacturers must take us for fools – well, not me. A quick mental calculation will quickly show that the local product is not cheap at all when compared to the imported item – more so especially considering the better quality of the imported product.

2.Labelling sins are aplenty in local products. Take for example - toothpaste. How come the government is unable to compel manufacturers to list the ingredients used in their concoctions? Why do the local manufacturere resist the compulsion to list the ingredients? Is it because you wouldn't dare put toothpaste in your mouth if you know what horrendous chemicals go into that innocuous paste? I believe I have hit the nail on the head. Because of the failure to make the listing of ingredients mandatory, some time ago a big muckety-muck actually went on to advise consumers to use only a small bead of toothpaste each time, not the long swathe you see in the commercials.

3.Another labelling sin is listing ingredients as `approved flavoring'; `spices'; `vegetable oil'. The educated consumer wants to know what kind of flavoring, what types of spices, what type of oil is used in the product that he is consuming. Please don't insult our intelligence by hiding behind such catch-all phrases or citing `trade secrets'. God only knows what else has not been disclosed in such lists! This is why contamination by substances such as the recent melamine scare can occur. Manufactories usually have laboratories, so what the heck are the staff doing? Just mucking around and passing time?

4.At a time when most people are concerned about hypertension or elevated blood pressure, listing the sodium content is vital to enable consumers to make sensible choices. But no, sodium levels are never stated in local products. It is probably so high that you would be scared off buying it in the first place, to say nothing of eating it. Is it so difficult to analyse and list the actual sodium levels in the products? Or is it because our legislation has no provision for such practice? Sometimes, you wonder what our exalted wakil rakyat are doing in parliament.

5.Some manufacturers actually try to obsfucate or outright bluff the uninitiated. Some instant noodle packaging proudly proclaim `no msg' or monosodium glutamate. People may be misled into thinking that it is a better product but look closer at the ingredient listing and you will see disodium inosinate or disodium guanylate being declared as permitted flavor enhancers. For all we know, these substitutes may be actually worse than msg, but the local manufacturers will never tell us. Some overseas government agencies actually classify instant noodles as hazardous food and discourage its consumption.

6.The widespread use of monosodium glutamate in food products is exploited as a
shortcut in making it palatable. Msg is not needed at all if effort has been invested into the recipe or concoction. Look at imported items – how many can you find msg being listed therein as an ingredient? You would be hard put to find even one, yet the products actually tasted better. At the same time, you also wouldn't see the imported item trumpeting that it is `msg free'. There is no such need if your recipe is up to scratch.Msg is actually seen as hazardous to health in developed countries.

7.Cholesterol. A so-called reputable brand of cream crackers (locally made) listed its ingredients followed by the nutrient/mineral breakdown figures - among them were cholesterol = 0, but there was no mention of sodium at all. Listing cholesterol levels as zero is a bad joke, any school kid can tell you there is no cholesterol if you don't use ingredients of animal origin. I also saw a brand of cooking oil (palm oil) proudly declaring 'cholesterol free'. At the same time, saturated fat levels were conveniently ignored. Our intelligence is being severely insulted here. Either that or perhaps they just didn't know better. I wonder.

8.Preservatives. `No preservatives!' - Proudly proclaims a label. Hey, waddaya take us consumers for, eh? Fools, what? The labels goes on to list sugar, salt and oil among its ingredients. Come on – sugar, salt and oil are all preservatives, doesn't the manufacturer know this? If what it is really trying to say is there are no artificial preservatives in the product, then it should be more specific. It actually ends up making a fool of itself.