This summer, the folks at Nabisco are betting on your love for watermelon to entice you to snag up the company's newest (artificial) flavor of sandwich crème cookies: Watermelon Oreos.
Saying the company chose watermelon because it's a "fun, summer flavor", the cookies just debuted at Target stores nationwide and will be available through the summer or while supplies last.
While the cookies may taste like Nabisco figured out how to get a giant watermelon into its little cookies, there's no actual watermelon in the ingredients. In fact, there are few recognizable food ingredients at all:
Sugar, unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate {vitamin B1}, riboflavin {vitamin B2}, folic acid), palm and/or canola oil, high fructose corn syrup, cornstarch, salt, baking soda, soy lecithin, natural and artificial flavor, artificial color (red 40 lake, yellow 5 lake, blue 1 lake)
Read more about junk food ingredients
The ingredients look more like a poster product for our Scary Seven ingredients to avoid rather than anything even remotely like a watermelon. Let's start with high fructose corn syrup. It's, of course, genetically modified, linked with obesity, type 2 diabetes and definitely not found in real watermelon.
The cookies boast both "natural" and artificial flavors, but we're guessing those natural flavors also probably didn't originate in any type of watermelon either. As to the artificial flavors, another Scary Seven ingredient to avoid, there can be dozens of chemicals in just one artificial flavor! Not exactly the same as the juicy and delicious flavors you get in a real watermelon, right?
And let's talk about those artificial colors. While watermelons are given their juicy pink anf green colors naturally, the Watermelon Oreos get their pinkish and green hues from red 40 lake, yellow 5 lake, and blue 1 lake. They're big no-nos on our Scary Seven list because they've been linked with hyperactivity, behavioral and attention disorders, especially in children, the target market for these cookies. Did you know that throughout much of Europe artificial colors are banned because of the health risks?
As for the rest of the ingredients, you can bet they're genetically modified. By not denoting "cane sugar," the first ingredient "sugar" is most likely from genetically modified Monsanto Roundup Ready sugar beets. That high fructose corn syrup is most likely from GMO corn, as is the cornstarch. Soy lecithin and canola are also most likely to be genetically modified as well. GMOs have been linked with serious human health and environmental issues.
If you really want that "fun, summer flavor", stick with the real thing and dive into an organic watermelon. They're limited edition summer treats too, with much healthier benefits.
Learn more about how to read food labels in our free e-book "Label Lessons."
Image: Nabisco
