# Handout 1.11: Spot the Trick

**Lesson:** 1.11 Label Detective, Day 2
**Print:** Pages 1 to 4, one per student. A calculator is allowed.

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## Page 1: Five tricks and the line that catches each one

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________ Period: ______

**Directions:** As we go through the five tricks on the screen, write what the trick is and which line on the Nutrition Facts label or ingredient list catches it.

| Trick | What it is | The line that catches it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The serving size game | | |
| 2. "Natural" | | |
| 3. True but beside the point ("fat free," "made with real fruit," "multigrain") | | |
| 4. The health halo (green package, a leaf, "wellness") | | |
| 5. "No sugar added" vs "sugar free" vs "reduced sugar" | | |

The fix is always the same: ______________________________________________

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## Page 2: Comparison 1, the juice aisle

**Product A: 100% Orange Juice, 52 fl oz carton.** Front says: "100% juice. No sugar added. Excellent source of vitamin C."

| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings per container | about 6 |
| Serving size | 8 fl oz (240 mL) |
| **Calories** | **110** |
| Total Fat 0 g | 0% |
| Sodium 0 mg | 0% |
| Total Carbohydrate 26 g | 9% |
| Dietary Fiber 0 g | 0% |
| Total Sugars 22 g | |
| Includes 0 g Added Sugars | 0% |
| Protein 2 g | |
| Vitamin C 90 mg | 100% |
| Potassium 450 mg | 10% |

Ingredients: orange juice.

**Product B: Sunny Orange Drink, 64 fl oz bottle.** Front says: "Made with real juice. Excellent source of vitamin C. Only 10 calories per ounce."

| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings per container | 8 |
| Serving size | 8 fl oz (240 mL) |
| **Calories** | **120** |
| Total Fat 0 g | 0% |
| Sodium 25 mg | 1% |
| Total Carbohydrate 31 g | 11% |
| Dietary Fiber 0 g | 0% |
| Total Sugars 30 g | |
| Includes 28 g Added Sugars | 56% |
| Protein 0 g | |
| Vitamin C 90 mg | 100% |
| Potassium 40 mg | 0% |

Ingredients: water, high fructose corn syrup, orange juice concentrate (10%), citric acid, natural flavor, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), yellow 6.

**Compare one serving:**

| | Product A | Product B | Which is better on this line? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | | | |
| Total sugars (g) | | | |
| Added sugars (g and % DV) | | | |
| Sodium (mg) | | | |
| First ingredient | | | |

Better choice (circle): A / B

The trick on Product B's front: ____________________________________________________

Whole container: if you drank all of Product B, added sugars = ______ servings x ______ g = ______ g. The daily value for added sugars is 50 g. That is ______ days' worth.

One sentence with two numbers as evidence: _________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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## Page 3: Comparison 2, the chip aisle

**Product C: Crispy Veggie Straws, 7 oz bag.** Front says: "Made with real vegetables. 30% less fat than regular potato chips. No artificial colors."

| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings per container | 7 |
| Serving size | 1 oz (28 g, about 38 straws) |
| **Calories** | **130** |
| Total Fat 7 g | 9% |
| Saturated Fat 0.5 g | 3% |
| Sodium 220 mg | 10% |
| Total Carbohydrate 16 g | 6% |
| Dietary Fiber less than 1 g | 2% |
| Total Sugars 0 g | |
| Includes 0 g Added Sugars | 0% |
| Protein less than 1 g | |
| Vitamin A 0 mcg | 0% |
| Vitamin C 0 mg | 0% |

Ingredients: potato starch, potato flour, corn starch, sunflower oil, salt, spinach powder, tomato paste, turmeric, beet powder.

**Product D: Classic Potato Chips, 8 oz bag.** Front says: "Made with real potatoes."

| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings per container | 8 |
| Serving size | 1 oz (28 g, about 15 chips) |
| **Calories** | **160** |
| Total Fat 10 g | 13% |
| Saturated Fat 1.5 g | 8% |
| Sodium 170 mg | 7% |
| Total Carbohydrate 15 g | 5% |
| Dietary Fiber 1 g | 4% |
| Total Sugars less than 1 g | |
| Includes 0 g Added Sugars | 0% |
| Protein 2 g | |
| Vitamin C 9 mg | 10% |
| Potassium 350 mg | 8% |

Ingredients: potatoes, vegetable oil (sunflower, corn, or canola), salt.

**Compare one serving:**

| | Product C | Product D | Which is better on this line? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | | | |
| Total fat (g) | | | |
| Sodium (mg and % DV) | | | |
| Fiber (g) | | | |
| Protein (g) | | | |
| Any vitamins? | | | |

Better choice (circle): C / D / neither is a health food

The trick on Product C's front: ____________________________________________________

Whole bag: if you ate the whole bag of Product C, sodium = ______ x ______ = ______ mg. Whole bag of D: ______ x ______ = ______ mg.

One sentence with two numbers as evidence: _________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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## Page 4: Critique the ad

**The ad (on the screen and here):**

> **SunBurst Fruit Bites**
> Made with REAL fruit. Fat free. Excellent source of vitamin C.
> The healthy snack for active kids. Toss a pouch in the lunchbox and feel good about it.
> (Picture: a smiling kid on a soccer field holding a pouch; strawberries and oranges tumbling across the package.)

**The label on the back of the box:**

| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings per container | 10 pouches |
| Serving size | 1 pouch (26 g) |
| **Calories** | **90** |
| Total Fat 0 g | 0% |
| Sodium 35 mg | 2% |
| Total Carbohydrate 21 g | 8% |
| Dietary Fiber 0 g | 0% |
| Total Sugars 12 g | |
| Includes 11 g Added Sugars | 22% |
| Protein 0 g | |
| Vitamin C 22 mg | 25% |
| Vitamin A 0 mcg | 0% |

Ingredients: corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, pear juice concentrate, citric acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), natural and artificial flavor, carnauba wax, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1.

**For comparison, one medium apple:** 95 calories, 25 g total carbohydrate, 4 g dietary fiber, 19 g total sugars, 0 g added sugars, 0 mg sodium, vitamin C 8 mg (10%).

**Directions:** Write a four-sentence critique. Sentence 1: what the ad claims. Sentences 2, 3, and 4: three pieces of evidence from the label or the ingredient list that the claim hides. Use a number or an ingredient in each one.

Sentence frame: "The ad says ___, but the label shows ___."

1. _____________________________________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________________________________________

4. _____________________________________________________________________________

Grade 8 stretch: on the back of this page, design an honest Nutrition Facts label for a snack that could truthfully say "made with real fruit." Name the snack, list the first three ingredients, and fill in serving size, calories, total sugars, added sugars, and fiber.

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## Teacher key

**Page 1.**
1. Serving size game: the company sets a small serving so the numbers look small; catch it with servings per container (a 20 oz bottle listed as 2.5 servings).
2. "Natural": the FDA has never formally defined the word for most foods, so it can mean almost anything; catch it with the ingredient list.
3. True but beside the point: "fat free" on candy (candy never had fat; look at added sugars); "made with real fruit" (look at where fruit is in the ingredient list and the added sugars line); "multigrain" (means more than one grain, not whole grain; look for "whole" as the first word of the first ingredient).
4. Health halo: a color or a word, not a fact; catch it by ignoring the front and reading the back.
5. "No sugar added" means no sugar was put in but the food may still have a lot of natural sugar (100% juice); "sugar free" means less than 0.5 g per serving; "reduced sugar" means at least 25% less than the regular version, which can still be a lot. Catch it with total sugars and added sugars.
The fix: turn it over and read the Nutrition Facts and the ingredient list.

**Page 2, Comparison 1.** Calories: A 110, B 120 (A). Total sugars: A 22 g, B 30 g (A). Added sugars: A 0 g (0%), B 28 g (56%) (A). Sodium: A 0 mg, B 25 mg (A). First ingredient: A orange juice, B water then high fructose corn syrup (A). Better choice: A. The trick: "made with real juice" (it is 10% juice), "excellent source of vitamin C" (added as ascorbic acid, not from fruit), "only 10 calories per ounce" (a made-up serving size to make the number look small). Whole container: 8 x 28 = 224 g added sugars, about 4.5 days' worth. Note for discussion: A still has 22 g of sugar per serving; juice is a "sometimes" drink and a serving is one cup, not the bottle.

**Page 3, Comparison 2.** Calories: C 130, D 160 (C). Total fat: C 7 g, D 10 g (C). Sodium: C 220 mg (10%), D 170 mg (7%) (D). Fiber: C less than 1 g, D 1 g (D, barely). Protein: C less than 1 g, D 2 g (D). Vitamins: C none, D vitamin C 10% and potassium 8% (D). Better choice: "neither is a health food" is the best answer; D wins more lines; C wins calories and fat. The trick: "made with real vegetables" (vegetable powders are the sixth to ninth ingredients, and the product has no vitamin A or C to show for it; the first three ingredients are starches), and "30% less fat" hides 30% more sodium. Whole bag: C 7 x 220 = 1,540 mg; D 8 x 170 = 1,360 mg.

**Page 4, the critique.** Sentence 1 states the claim (made with real fruit; healthy snack for active kids). Any three of these as evidence: the first two ingredients are corn syrup and sugar; the only fruit is pear juice concentrate, fourth on the list, and no strawberry or orange appears at all; 11 g added sugars is 22% of a day's worth in one pouch; 0 g fiber, while a real apple has 4 g; the vitamin C is ascorbic acid added by the company, not from fruit; "fat free" is true but the snack never had fat; the colors on the package come from red 40, yellow 5, and blue 1. Score: complete (claim plus three evidence sentences with a number or ingredient each), partial (claim plus one or two), missing.

**Grade 8 stretch.** Any snack whose first ingredient is a fruit (for example dried apple slices, a fruit and nut bar with dates first) with a label that shows 0 g added sugars and at least 2 g fiber. Check that the serving size is a real amount.

**Scoring:** complete, partial, or missing for daily work. The page 4 critique is Objective 3 and previews quiz item 12.