A Sad SAD Commercial!

I just have to comment on this because this stupid Chunky soup commercial was just on the tube.  "What can you do with plain white rice?  When you pour Chunky Sirloin Burger soup over it, you can do dinner".  Complete with slender woman enjoying a dish that doesn't even look appetizing to me!



Nutrition Facts*

Amount per Serving (serving size) = 1 cup
Calories
130
Total Fat
2.5g
Sat. Fat
1g
Cholesterol
15mg
Sodium
800mg
Total Carb.
18g
Dietary Fiber
3g
Sugars
4g
Protein
8g
% Daily Values***
Vitamin A
30%
Vitamin C
4%
Calcium
2%
Iron
10%


  • Lean Meat
  • Full Serving of Vegetables
  • Good Source of Protein
  • Good Source of Fiber
  • Low Fat
  • Low Cholesterol
  • Low Saturated Fat

  • Ingredients
Beef Stock, Potatoes, Sirloin Beef, Carrots, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Green Beans, Water, Peas, Cornstarch, Rehydrated Onions. Contains less than 1% of the Following Ingredients: Wheat Flour, Potato Starch, Salt, Yeast Extract and Hydrolyzed Wheat Gluten and Soy Protein, Vegetable Oil, Monosodium Glutamate, Spice Extract, Caramel Color, Chicken Flavor (Chicken Fat, Chicken Flavor, Flavoring, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Butter).I

Ummm .... Lessee here.
If one eats one eats one cup of this soup (go get out your 1c measuring device and see how little that is!), they get a whopping 8g protein!    Good source of fiber my arse!  Three grams??  No doubt the sugars are from the tomato and onions, but there's more sugar than fiber in this stuff.  Full serving of veggies?  What, like one green bean, a baby carrot and a half dozen peas?  

What is the main nutritive ingredient in this stuff?  Not sirloin burger, but potatoes!  It should be called potato soup with sirloin burgers and other starchy veggies.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

In what world would one pour potatoes over white rice and call that a meal?????

For $4 I can buy two huge turkey drumsticks or a pound of beef and a bag of steamfresh veggies - probably broccoli and cauli.  That's what I would do with white rice these days!!


  



Comments

Nigel Kinbrum said…
Does the US not have a Trades Description Act?
CarbSane said…
We have a ton of nutrition labeling laws if that's what you're referring to. And it's part of the problem IMO.

The whole "serving of veggies" stuff kills me because in the US potatoes are a vegetable. Fine, I can't get stuck on semantics over what is a seed or a grain or a fruit or a veggie, but Americans ARE eating more veggies than ever before ... too bad those are french fries!! This is NOT what anyone means when they encourage one to eat veggies and fruit. (Don't get me started on the V8 fruit juice crap).

Sometimes I think we would be better without any of the laws because they seem to allow such misleading claims.

It's not the best idea ever, but I would say eat more soup and call it dinner. Pouring it over white rice?
Nigel Kinbrum said…
The label states Chunky Sirloin Burger soup. It's actually Chunky Potato soup (as Potatoes comes before Sirloin in the Ingredients). The label is misleading. See Trade Descriptions Act 1968.
CarbSane said…
I agree it's misleading but as soups go it probably wouldn't be legally so. Chicken Noodle soup has a whole lot more noodles than chicken in it. Chunky has (or had, it's been quite a while since I've bought any canned soup and even longer since what I did was Chunky) Beef with Veggie soup and Vegetable Beef soup.

I would like to see this "contains a full serving of veggies" crap stopped.
MM said…
I do like the labeling laws. This way you can look at the back and see exactly what goes into the soup (or whatever product). By now people should know better than to trust the front label on any processed food.
Flavia said…
Reminds me of the spaghetti commercials that now claim "Full serving of vegetables in every serving."

Right. From tomatoes laced with sugar and oils. On top of a heaping serving of wheat. Awesome.

Maybe we need to re-define vegetables or at least remove potatoes and tomatoes.
CarbSane said…
Yeah, potatoes definitely gotta go! I don't agree on the tomatoes though. Yeah, they're technically fruit, but that's not my point. They contain a bit of natural sugars and very little starch. Tomato sauce counting as a veggie (I think you're too young to remember the ketchup = veggie nonsense!) is questionable to me, especially when one looks at all the added crap in commercial sauces.

The veggie recommendation is intended to be non-starchy veggies, or it should be. Most consider corn a veggie when its a grain. Starchy "veggies" like potatoes should be lumped with the wholegrains, period. It should be whole veggies IMO (OK, chopped and sliced), not pureed.
CarbSane said…
Yeah MM, I'm definitely for the forced labeling. I would like to see that disclosure go even further. For example I would like to see added sugars and perhaps added fats in some foods like soups and meat sauces and such. I've noted before that we've been making our own bolognese or any tomato based sauce because they add too much sugar to any commercial ones that come close to our liking. Seems wasteful to spend the extra dollars on the prepared sauce, augment it with extra stuff and have no control over how much sugar was added.

I rather think these "full serving of veggies" stuff is misleading per my reply to Flavia.
Matt said…
You know, that sirloin burger soup not so long ago used to contain about 50% more burger. Haven't bought it in 2 years since they dropped the protein.
Sven Anders said…
I don't really see the problem with the soup per se. The description reminds me a bit of goulasch, which is a soup I make and enjoy quite often. I agree on the rice angle though - it's a slightly weird combo, and not in a Heston Blumenthal way.
CarbSane said…
I've been enjoying awesome beef stews this winter made with similar ingredients (I add peas, corn & limas - it's a compromise for my & hubby's taste). Mine does have quite a bit more meat. As Matt noted (welcome Matt if I've not done so already, I think you're a different Matt) the meat has apparently been cut down. I've not bought it in a while, but 8g protein in a serving is measly to me!

So in addition to the potatoes over rice thing, I have an issue considering most of those veggies what's intended by recommended servings of veggies. Or the soup being considered a good source of protein, over rice or not.

I'm embarrassed to admit I had to look up HB ;)