American Chocolate......this is ridiculous (I'M IN UK)?

Question

I live in the UK and my local shop stocks Reeses nutrigrain bars and the cups....I noticed how salty and sweet they are compared to Engliah chocolate.

I was horrified when i looked for the nutritional info that the pack contained NONE AT ALL....nothing to warn of peanut allergies either.

What is going on there?

Is this why Americans can't controll their diet if they don't know what foods contain?

Both American and English views please xxx

Answer 1

I am an American living in Germany and i amazed at how much better European chocolate is. The cocoa content is like so much higher and the sugar so much less. I dont see any high fructose corn syrup on the European stuff either. So as for me, I will never eat American chocolate again. I know where the good stuff is at. I Have a rule. If i can not pronounce the ingredients then i dont eat that type of food. Too many chemicals and stuff that i dont even know what it is. The American obesity problem is due to lack of exercise and too much food being readily available. The food that is readily available is not healthy foods such as fruits and veggies. It is vending machine snacks loaded with fat and sugar that only spikes insulin levels and makes them hungry just after they ate.

Answer 2

Just so you know, in America Reeses do show nutritional content, as long as the package is meant for individual sale. For multipacks, the info is on the outside of the main package. That goes for all food items on sale, it's the law. Now however they were packaged and sold in the UK, I can't say. I hate to tell you, but Cadbury's is part of the Reeses family, and your bars and cups were in all likelyhood produced there in the UK, packaged and sold according to the laws of the UK regarding package information. If your packs didn't have the info, chances are they were originally sold in larger multipacks and broken up by the shop for individual sale. The suggestion that Amercans can't control their diets because they don't know what the foods contain is insulting at best. Let's be a bit less smug here. Some Americans are fat for the same reason there are fat folks in the UK, simply put they eat too much. So far as lacking a peanut allergy warning, that would be a bit redundant in a product labeled "peanut butter cup" don't you think? Or have they started putting something different in the peanut butter in the UK? Is it such a stretch of the imagination to think that a person who knows they are allergic to peanuts could figure out that's the main ingredient in peanut butter? So you didn't care for the products, fine. I find them overly sweet and cloying myself, but then again I always found British milk chocolate to be much the same. I myself prefer dark Belgian chocolate, since then I know there isn't any artificial anything in it. Candy is also generally produced to please the tastes of the locality where it is to be sold, like a good many other products. The label requirements are determined by the country it will be sold in, not the country that produced it. So if the information you wanted was missing, it's a matter you should take up with the authorities there where you live.

Answer 3

They have nutrition information on all of the packages you buy from the store. You must have just gotten one cup that you got from someone, which you would never buy on its own sepratly. Our FDA requires nutrition information, ingredients, and allergine warnings on all products.

And yes, reese's cups are sickeningly sweet. That doesn't represent all American chocolate though, its merely a product of the mass chocolate producer Hershey's who can sell it to us cheaply because the real stuff is so pricey.

EDIT: Also, I really don't understand why Brits are constantly giving us a hard time about being the world's fattest nation. Is it because Brits don't realize that they are the world's second fattest nation and they also have disgusting obesity problems? The reason our obesity epidemic is more reputable is that we're making a huge deal about it so that the word gets out. It doesn't help, because by nature people take no consumer responsibility, but the government is at least trying.

Answer 4

In the US candy manufacturers have to list out the ingredients, as well if there are peanuts/nuts or cross contanimation concerns. Also, Reece's are so well known as a chocolate/peanut butter candy - they're kind of an icon.
Reeces is not what I'd call a nutritional bar - lots of americans have become pretty savvy and know enough to read the nutrition label before purchasing something they hope will be healthy.

Answer 5

We in the US do have a limited supply of good chocolates. Most is far too sweet and salty. I'm not sure what to say about the labelling. Perhaps Fluppunhupp is correct, or there may be some loophole in the laws that allows the company to skirt the normal requirements, since it's a non-EU import for you. It makes sense, though, since the nutritional content (horrifying) doesn't match the marketing strategy (nutritious confection).

Answer 6

Info on the product might be useful to warn the consumer but to put the blame for Americans obesity to it is a farce. One can always see oneself in the mirror.

Eat only when hungry and not more than thrice a day. Nothing other than water in between. Include plenty of uncooked vegetables and fruits in each meal, preferably 50%. Chew each morsel at least 32 times to activate ur body to generate signals of hunger/fullness. Obey these signals.

Take light exercises and brisk walks regularly preferably twice a day.

U will achieve what u have not even dreamt and that too in a reasonable time. Do not be in a hurry.

Answer 7

Everything sold in the US is required to have the nutrition info..if they were part of a larger pack not meant for re-sale the info would be on the bag...the store probably opened the bag to sell as individual and make a higher profit....
Americans being so fat is why they made the law...I don't think most people here care.

Most items as well as restraunts also provide the info online...reese's is below...enjoy!

Answer 8

I have noticed that to with various products, they are extremely sweet and have so much artificial flavours/colours in them. I feel that the US only have the money in there interest rather than the health, if it sells then theyre prepared to stock it regardless of the health issues. Its not just the companies that make and stock it's fault though as alot of the community choose to buy these (tasty unhealthy) products over healthier options. So really its a choice that the consumer makes and the choice of the company that stocks it. So botyh are lending to the destruction of being a healthier individual. Hope my thought on this matter is ok :)

Answer 9

Having bought foods in both countries, I can safely say that nutrition labels in the US contain much more information than English nutrition labels.
I don't know what the deal is with that particular candy you were eating. Maybe it was a single bar out of a case, with the nutritional information printed on the case?

Answer 10

Here in the states our government along w the food and drug administration make their own laws and dont have to tell us all the ingreedient they put in our food.As well, they put things in our food called artificial ingreedients meaning "chemicals that by law we dont have to list" just man made chemicals. Also I dont know the exact number but there are something like 600,000 chemicals that we eat in our foods here that have never even been tested. we are a nation on guinea pigs and most of us are dieing of cancer. And another little known fact our foods Even fruits and veggies have chemicals in them that are addictive so we not only eat more but buy more. It all comes down to money bottom line. And if you took a glass of the liquid chemicals they put into our food and said to a representitive of one of these companies is this toxic he would say no, and there are such small traces in the food that it wouldnt effect anyone anyway. they are used for preserving the food so it has a longer shelf life. So then ask this rep. to take a sip i uarantee he says no. We arent told what we are eating becaus ethey dont have to tell us. Thats the USA for ya.ps thats why most of us are fat. because of the un named chemicals in our food