Today in Scary Food: Watch out for Fake Blueberries!

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jan 24, 2011 5:40PM

Consumerist and NPR tipped us off to this story last Friday - apparently the blueberry-like objects in many cereals, frozen muffins and other processed products have absolutely nothing to do with blueberries at all! Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised, but while we assume that the "marshmallows" in cereal are fake (especially since they taste like chalk) when something is masquerading as fruit, we assume it has something to do with fruit. Not so. The blueberries, which are on the nutrition label as "blueberry flavored chrunchlets" or something similar, are actually made of "sugars, soybean oil, red #40 and blue #2."

When reached for comment by NPR, Kellogg told them that the fauxberries were "labeled in compliance with applicable laws and regulations." Just because it's legal doesn't make it right, people! We acknowledge that we are food radicals, asking people to buy local and sustainable. But it hardly seems like a radical stance to ask that our food be food! Yet another reason to buy local products from real bakeries, rather than shelf-stabilized boxes of chemicals. Some people like the fakes, it's true - but shouldn't we be making an informed choice? Grab a pie from Hooiser Mama
or granola from Milk and Honey, both of which use real fruit.