This post was originally published on July 11, 2011 at www.thefoodlabelmovement.org.

Boulder Canyon Rice & Adzuki Bean Chips – “Made with natural ingredients”

The scenario: You’re in a local health food store, where you regularly buy organic produce, free-range meat, fair-trade coffee and specialty nutrient-rich flours like amaranth, quinoa or teff. As you walk down the aisles, an organic frozen meal goes into your cart, as well as a box of all-natural agave-sweetened chocolate chip cookies, a can of vegan soup and a bag of gluten-free chips. You pay for your items and walk out of the store feeling great about all of your choices. Your entire grocery shopping excursion took place at a health food store – you and your family are set for getting optimal nutrition for the next week!

But wait. Are you sure that those items are really as healthy as you think? Let’s take a look at the health claims on Boulder Canyon Natural Foods Rice & Adzuki Bean Snack Chips:

Rice and adzuki beans MUST make this a healthy chip... right?

• Made with natural ingredients: check.
• Gluten-free: check.
• 0 Trans fats: check.
• Green Energy (whatever that means): check.
• Made with rice and adzuki bean: check.

From the looks of those health claims, this is a pretty awesome snacking chip! But let’s turn the package over to peek at the nutrition panel on the back:

Hmmm, things are starting to look a little suspicious.

• 270 calories per 50-gram serving: standard for regular chips*.
• 13 grams fat per 50-gram serving: standard for regular chips*.
• 350 mg sodium per 50-gram serving: standard for regular chips*.
• 2 grams fiber per 50-gram serving: standard for regular chips*.

Okay, the nutrition facts table doesn’t meet the health claims on the front package. Maybe the ingredient list will show us something a little healthier:

Ding ding ding! The truth comes out.

• Rice flour, first ingredient: check! But it doesn’t say what type of rice. Brown rice is nutrient-rich… white rice is not. Since it hasn’t been specified, it is likely that this is plain white rice.
• Adzuki beans: check! Although it isn’t among the first couple of ingredients, it is the fourth ingredient on the list (and before the oils), which is pretty high up there… although, that’s not always a good thing, which brings us to our next point.
• Over 20 ingredients: ouch! “Original” flavours of regular chip brands usually have three ingredients: potatoes, oil and salt. While they’re generally fried in tons of oil and are loaded with calories and fat, at least all of the ingredients are recognizable. There is no reason why a bag of chips should have 20+ ingredients.
• Unrecognizable ingredients: ouch! Tapioca maltodextrin, disodium phosphate, natural cheese “flavours”… what do those things even mean?

All in all, Boulder Canyon Natural Foods Rice & Adzuki Bean Snacking Chips are not the healthy chip replacement they pretend to be. While we give them kudos on containing only 1 gram saturated fat per 50-gram serving, adzuki beans as the first ingredient and for being gluten-free for those with gluten intolerance, many brands of chips these days now contain very little saturated fat, unusual “gourmet” ingredients, and most chips are gluten-free anyways.

Have you bought chips or other food products from health food stores based on the health claims on the front of the package? How often do you turn the package over to compare it with the nutrition panel on the back? Are there other brands that you would like to see outed and added to our Shame List? Leave a comment below!

*When compared to popular brands such as Old Dutch and Lay’s.