No longer for sale: Nicolette van Dam’s misleading vegetable sweets
Did you catch the nominations for the Golden Wind Egg 2022? Three products have been nominated by the organization Foodwatch for, according to the food watchdog, really going too far, with marketing claims on the packaging that turn out to be largely untrue. Last year, the sweets launched by Nicolette van Dam ‘won’; by now, they have disappeared from the shelves.
Winning the Golden Wind Egg can’t have been good publicity for the sweets launched as ‘vegetable sweets’. Van Dam herself presented the product as a responsible treat because it contained sugars from vegetables and fruit, but many nutrition experts rightly took issue with that.
Just as unhealthy as regular candy
Foodwatch pointed out that they contained just as much sugar as regular sweets, while the Netherlands Nutrition Centre stated that they had little more to do with vegetables or fruit. The product contained none of the healthy properties of vegetables and fruit, such as minerals and fiber.
Shifting the focus
Several brands that receive heavy criticism for their untrue claims give in after a Foodwatch nomination and adjust their packaging. Jumbo did so with the packaging of its iced tea nominated for the Golden Wind Egg, and just before the announcement, the brand Toko Lien did the same with its ‘ginger syrup’. The bottle now says ‘syrup with ginger flavor’ (because it contains no real ginger, only flavoring), allowing them to avoid the nomination. Van Dam’s Let’s Veggie Candy has therefore been taken completely off the market. As a spokesperson explained: so that she can focus on other things.
The real deal
So if you now go to the supermarket looking for these sweets, you’ll probably come home empty-handed. Better yet: come home with real fruit and real vegetables!
Read also:
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- Knorr’s Poké Bowl with ‘lots of delicious vegetables’ is extremely misleading
- Consumer watchdog: you’re being conned by vegetable wraps and vegetable crisps
Image: Instagram
