A Wheat Chocolate Bar
We’ve got a paranoia-filled rule here in our home. We don’t believe anything on labels. And, we don’t think we checked it last time either. Every single product has to be read every single time. At least three times.
We purchased a gluten-free version of a chocolate treat at the grocery store for years. It was on our safe list. It had worked its way onto our safe list. On my next shopping trip, I read the ingredients on the back again (the way I read each and every ingredient) and I saw that there was now wheat listed among other ingredients. Same chocolate bar. Same packaging, as best I could see with my tired eyes. New ingredient listing.
Not a thing occurred. That’s the whole reason. Not a thing occurred since checking doesn’t know if the bar was good last week or last month. An alteration to the formula will go unnoticed from the outside of the box. There is no obligation by manufacturers to alert consumers when they make changes to their formulas, and “this has been fine for us for over a year” is not an added layer of protection; it is the lack thereof.
Read all labels three times at three different points: before placing into your grocery cart, at the shelf; after removing from the grocery cart, at the entrance/door of your home; just before putting food into your child’s mouth, at the counter.
It is possible to miss a change during any one of these reads. I have identified issues while standing at the counter that I completely missed while standing at the shelf, as I was simultaneously trying to manage my cart, my toddler and the individual who was waiting behind me. The third read is simply another opportunity to pay attention if attention lapsed during one of the first two reads.