Slendier Spaghetti Calorie Scam

deaglan1

Just a warning to anyone who has purchased Slendier range of spaghetti. The company goes out of its way to dupe you into believing that you are consuming far less calories than you actually are per the recommended serving.

Background - came across Slendier Spaghetti range (Organic Edmame Spaghetti; Organic Soybean Spaghetti; Organic Edamame Fettuccine; Organic Soybean Fettucine). I believe that there are more varieties. Came across them in Mr Price which was surprising & the price was really low €1 per box compared to purchasing elsewhere or online at €6.50 per box.

Each box, boldy claims in a star icon on the front of the box that a serve has less than 60 calories.

Each box contains 200 g of dry spaghetti.

The box states that there are four servings in the box. Using the mathematical nous of Einstein this would indicate that each serving equates to 50 g of dried spaghetti (which would be a pretty normal dry weight serving for any type of spaghetti).

On the back of the box, the nutritional and calorie content for 50 g spaghetti is printed and specifically states that the calorie content is 58 calories.

All well and good so far. BUT, the low calories per serving seemed way too good to be true. Initially, I reasoned that this form of spaghetti must therefore mainly consist of fibre and that most of it simply passes through the system. Then I checked competitors products, same type of spaghetti made from the same natural product. And as one might expect, the competitors' calorie values are way higher. Naively I requested clarification from Slendier and I am still awaiting a response!!! Fortunately, others have been more tenacious and eventually the company admitted that the calorie content printed on the box for 50 g of spaghetti refers to 50 g cooked spaghetti!!! One person took the 50 g dry spaghetti (= one serving) and found that it weighed 188 g when cooked. That is almost four times the weight of the dry product. So, the actual calorie consumption per recommended serving is 218 calories, not 58 calories. Slendier is being completely disingenuous, intentionally trying to dupe the consumer into equating 50 g dry serving with the calorie content of 50 g cooked. Fifty gram cooked equates with roughly 13 g dry, enough to feed a tiny toddler, maybe??

How they are allowed to get away with this false claim and are allowed to sell their product with this intentionally misleading information printed on the box is very strange.

Mellor

All well and good so far. BUT, the low calories per serving seemed way too good to be true. Initially, I reasoned that this form of spaghetti must therefore mainly consist of fibre and that most of it simply passes through the system

It's made from Edamame flour, rather then wheat flour. Edamame being a legume not a grain is much higher in protein and lower in carbs. Hence the lower calories.

Then I checked competitors products, same type of spaghetti made from the same natural product. And as one might expect, the competitors' calorie values are way higher. 

Which product? Normal pasta is made from natural ingredients. Natural doesn't mean low calories.

Fortunately, others have been more tenacious and eventually the company admitted that the calorie content printed on the box for 50 g of spaghetti refers to 50 g cooked spaghetti!!! One person took the 50 g dry spaghetti (= one serving) and found that it weighed 188 g when cooked.

The packet says it's cooked weight IIRC. The issue is that you don't know the dry weight that went into it. The serves per packet is wrong.

So, the actual calorie consumption per recommended serving is 218 calories, not 58 calories. Slendier is being completely disingenuous, intentionally trying to dupe the consumer into equating 50 g dry serving with the calorie content of 50 g cooked. Fifty gram cooked equates with roughly 13 g dry, enough to feed a tiny toddler, maybe??

It absorbs a lot of water, you can't have absolute confidence that the 188g value is the same amount of water as the tested values.

50g is a pretty big serving imo. I've bought it and figured out pretty quickly that there was more than 4 servings in it.

The extra calories are not good, but I highly doubt anyone was eating so much of it for it to make an impact. If they were, they have a have other issues overall (eg portional control)

How they are allowed to get away with this false claim and are allowed to sell their product with this intentionally misleading information printed on the box is very strange.

The box say cooked/prepared weight. The number of portions is wrong. Pretty common for manufacturers to understate the portion size, eg cereal.