Pringles

WHAT'S IN A PRINGLE?

If you’ve been watching the Great Pringles Are Not Crisps controversy, you’d be forgiven for wondering what they are. What are Pringles 'crisps' actually made of? So here, thanks to a 43g pack of Cheesey Cheese Pringles and a few mildly obsessive minutes on the Internet, is a breakdown of what you’re eating when you, errr, 'pop and can't stop'...

Enjoy!



THE INGREDIENT LIST
Just think, every time you hold one of those tasty 'shaped snacks' in your fingers before popping it into your mouth, it's actually an artificially shaped experience consisting of:
Dehydrated potatoes, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following: corn oil and/or palm oil), corn flour, wheat starch, maltodextrin, emulsifier: E471 (from palm oil), cheese powder* (non-animal enzymes), salt, rice flour, whey powder, dextrose, flavour enhancer: monosodium glutamate, vegetable oil (sunflower, palm, coconut), natural and nature-identical cheese flavour (composed of cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese out of non-animal enzymes), buttermilk powder, onion powder, sugar, dried cream, non-fat milk, sodium caseinate, whey powder concentrate, food acid: lactic acid, flavour enhancers: disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, yeast extact.
*from cows milk

Energy per 100g: 534 kcal
Fat per 100g: 35g of which 10g saturates


THE SUMMARY
Just in case you didn't click on the link to the BBC story above, Pringles' "unnatural shape" and the fact that the potato content is less than 50% helped Justice Warren to decide that they're not crisps and therefore exempt the UK's 17.5% Value Added Tax.

You’re basically eating a mixture of dried potato and a variety of other processed food starches bound together with some strong fats and stabilisers, then flavoured with powerful artificial flavour enhancers, some processed dairy product extracts intended to create a slightly sour cheesy flavour and a splosh of sweeteners to help it all go down.

Yummy!


THE BREAKDOWNSo what are those delicious looking ingredients, listed in order of weight? Here's a breakdown of every lovingly processed one of them!
Dehydrated potatoes
Apparently, according to media reports, something like 40% of a Pringle is actually potato – and dehydrated potato at that.

Vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following: corn oil and/or palm oil)
Corn oil is just fine, a relatively cheap vegetable oil. Palm oil is cheaper and more insidious, packing a wicked load of saturated fat: see this article over at The Fat Expat for more.

Corn flour
Is what it says on the packet, a starch derived from dried corn. Usually GM corn.

Wheat starch
Another starch, this time derived from wheat.

Maltodextrin
Derived, usually in a process of acidic breakdown, from vegetable starch (typically rice, corn or potato). Apparently a recent trend towards using wheat starch is suspected as a causative in increased coeliac reactions in the US. It’s basically an artificial sweetener.

Emulsifier E471 (from palm oil)
No wonder they call it E471. The ‘E’ numbers are the European Union food additive numbering codes and you can usually reckon, when you see one of these little darlings, that the number is preferable to the actual name. E471, then, is Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (glyceryl monostearate, glyceryl distearate). We’re basically looking at a fat, chemically derived from palm oil, being used to combine otherwise difficult to combine substances (emulsification).

Cheese powder (non animal enzymes)
Basically, they haven’t used an animal rennet.

Salt
Sodium Chloride. Salt.

Rice flour
Yet another starch packing out that meagre piece of potato...

Whey powder
Whey is a by-product of cheese production and whey powder is used as a cheap sweetener as it’s rich in lactose – anything up to 75%.

Dextrose
A form of glucose, a sweetener.

Monosodium glutamate
MSG or E621: this is not generally considered to be a terribly good thing. MSG is an artificial flavour enhancer, widely used in Chinese cooking but used in highly processed foods to add ‘zing’ where flavour would otherwise be lacking. There is widespread anecdotal evidence of MSG side effects, including headaches, flushing, sweating, numbness, tingling or burning sensations, particularly in the mouth, chest pain and shortness of breath. However, it is still an additive approved for use in both the US and EU.

Vegetable oil (sunflower, palm, coconut)
Again, sunflower oil is a vegetable oil and is generally considered to be good for you in moderation. Both coconut oil and palm oil are very high in saturated fats and pretty much the same as eating pure animal fat in that respect. Both of the latter oils are more stable at room temperature, being semi-solid – particularly coconut oil.

Natural and nature-identical cheese flavour (composed of cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese out of non-animal enzymes)
Nature-identical flavours are artificially created flavourings, typically a compound of flavoids combined to match a breakdown of components created by spectrometric analysis.

Buttermilk powder
Literally the dried by-product of making butter, buttermilk is used as a flavouring, adding a slightly sour, tangy dairy taste.

Onion powder
Again, a flavouring

Dried cream
Is what is says.

Non-fat milk
Just that!

Sodium Caseinate (from cows)
Frequently used as an emulsifier and stabiliser

Whey powder concentrate
See whey powder above

Food acid: lactic acid
Both a preservative and a taste ingredient (it is used extensively in sour milk products).

Flavour enhancers: disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate
Disodium inosinate (C10H11N2Na2O8P to you) is commonly used alongside disodium guanylate, which results in disodium ribonucleotide or E635: a flavour enhancer that effectively potentiates MSG – ie: it makes the flavour ‘kick’ of the MSG greater. This lets manufacturers get more bang for their MSG buck.

Yeast extact.
Another, slightly more natural, flavour enhancer. Yeast extracts are made in a process that’s just like pouring salt on slugs: you add salt to a yeast suspension and the cells shrivel up and die. They are then heated and the unwanted cellulose strained off.

(I had a few angst moments about whether to post this here or over at The Fat Expat, the food blog to end all food blogs. I plumped for here, given that this is not really a recipe or a review, but something of a rant - and consumer protection is a FPS tag, not a TFE one.)

Complaining

This will be the last extract I offer from the greatest guide to letter writing ever compiled, the compendious 1111 Letters for Al Occasions, the magnificent octopus orchestrated by K. Malik and published by New Light publishers of New Delhi. Because I'm bored now, that's why.

That K. Malik's advice in the matter of petitions is offered in a long and largely unsuccessful correpondence should not detract from the close study of this most fascinating chain. That he believes a causal link between mosquitoes and influenza should not, in this modern day, cause you to question this most learned man's sanity. That question, I think you will agree, was settled between us some time ago...


Public Petitions
Public Petitions are joint applications for a common cause. These should be signed by a large number of citizens to impress upon the authorities the urgency of the matter.

Growth of Mosquitoes
To
Lieutenant-Governor
Delhi

Dear Sir
The population of mosquitoes and flies has assumed unprecedented malevolence this year in West Delhi because the Corporation of Delhi has not sprayed the area with DDT and other pesticides.

There is great danger of malaria, flu and other epidemics breaking out.

We request that immediate steps should be taken to terminate the mosquito and fly nuisance and hazard in West Delhi.

Yours Faithfully
Ram Kumar
Karam Singh
Din Mohammed
Joseph Stephen
And other residents of West Delhi.

Reply to Above
Your application dated ...... has been forwarded to the Chief Secretary, Delhi Administration, for necessary action.

Reminder
To
The Chief Secretary
Delhi Administration
Delhi

Sir
We have the honour to draw your kind attention to our petition forwarded to you by the Lieutenant-Governor regarding the over-population of mosquitoes in West Delhi.

Kindly arrange to terminate the nuisance.
Yours faithfully,

Reply to Above
Your application has been forwarded to the Chief Health Officer, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, for necessary action.

Another Reminder
The Chief Health Officer,
Municipal Corporation of Delhi
Delhi

Sir,
Please state what has happened to our petition to the Lieutenant-Governor, forwarded to you by the Chief Secretary for ending the mosquito menace in West Delhi.

Reply to Above
I am personally visiting your locality on May 10 at 11am with necessary DDT staff to spray the mosquito-breeding pockets.

Reply to Above
You did not turn up on 10th May as promised. We had prepared tea and garlands in your honour, but you did not come.

Since you are too busy to come, please pass on our application to the mosquitoes themselves.

Letter of Apology
Dear Sir

I regret that I was unable to visit your locality on 10th May because I was urgently called to the Corporation meeting regarding your application to the Lieutenant-Governor.

Rest assured, my staff will soon be visiting your area to terminate the mosquito menace.

Yet Another Reminder
The Lieutenant-Governor
Delhi

Sir
We have the honour to draw your kind attention to the our petition dated .....

Mosquito menace continues as usual.

Reply to Above
Dear Sirs
I understand that the Health Staff did visit your area with pesticides to destroy the mosquitoes.

Reply to Reply
Yes, the Health Staff of Delhi Corporation did indeed visit the locality with pesticides.

They simply passed on our petition to the mosquitoes and sold the pesticides to a chemist.

And the mosquitoes lived happily ever after!

Boycott

Uncelebrated by the region's English language media, a spat of some considerable proportions has been going on in Jordan, where the Jordan Festival, an intended celebration of music, culture and art, has been struggling in the face of calls for a boycott by Arab artists being raised by the Jordanian Artists Association.

The reason for the boycott was that French advertising agency Publicis was alleged to be retained as part of the organisation of the event and Publicis was further alleged been behind the organisation of Israel's 60th birthday celebrations. At least two artists, including Lebanese superstar singers Assi Hillani and Ellissa, had pulled out as a consequence and the viability of the event was starting to be questioned.

His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan weighed in yesterday in an interview carried by Petra News Agency. Publicis Groupe has also categorically denied any involvement in the arrangements for the Jordan Festival in a piece carried by Arabic Daily Al Hayat yesterday and also denied any involvement in the arrangements for the Israeli 60th anniversary celebration beyond its CEO's attendance as a private individual.

But it might have been too little, too late. The boycott, according to a report in today's Jordan Times, continues. A letter's gone out from the JAA to five other national artist's associations calling on them to support the boycott. A boycott which would appear to be based on very little evidence indeed, but a great deal of emotional response.

Worst of all, take a look at the last line of JT's story: JAA's president has called for a boycott of Algerian Cheb Khaled (AKA 'Khaled didi') because he once played a concert with an Israeli artist in Rome.

I once had dinner with an Israeli. Should I worry?

Credit

Gulf News had its day today with the news that UAE businessman Abid Al Boom had his assets frozen. The paper first ran the story last week (on the 27th June, in fact) that Al Boom was in schtuck, pipping the other English stories to the post, although its angle on the story was perhaps a little interesting.

The GN story from last week, "Lawyers flay newspaper for slandering Al Boom company" took the angle of 'the astonishment expressed' by lawyers and the 'anger' expressed by Al Boom himself at the news reported by an Arabic newspaper, the name of which GN refused to give on the grounds of the UAE Journalism Code of Ethics.

Today GN's reporting pretty much vindicates said Arabic newspaper (which I can, in an exclusive shock horror revelation, tell you was Dubai government-owned Emarat Al Youm) , although nowhere does Gulf News' coverage today say that. The National also ran the story, crediting 'a local Arabic newspaper' and even Emirates Business 24x7 ran the piece front page but didn't credit its sister title with the scoop.

Which does rather strike me as denying credit where it's due. EAY broke the story, but was never given that credit in the English press. Citing the Code of Ethics is all very well, but I for one couldn't find the relevant part of the code that stops a newspaper crediting its fellow paper for publishing a story.

BTW - that code (linked above) is well worth a read for anyone in, or dealing with, UAE media!

Points

There’s an Egyptian Arabic language website and accompanying newsletter called Egypt ICT, which provides news, views and commentary on that most excellent country’s burgeoning ICT scene. Recently it’s been the centre of an outbreak of PR/journalist angst which has proven most fascinating, reporting on a series of events that appear to have sparked a new, well, grumpiness on the part of the country’s press corps.

Back in June, the newsletter gleefully reported a series of gaffes on the part of mobile phone company Nokia. A spat over the apparent exclusion of a number of journalists from a press event appeared to create significant ill-feeling amongst the media there. This was then followed Nokia’s communications people in Egypt apparently suggesting to a rather ungrateful Egyptian media that they might like to conform to a new points based system for rewarding compliant journalists. Points were allegedly to be awarded in return for coverage and journalists who collected lots of points would have privileged access to Nokia executives.

The howl of protest that accompanied this move has still not died down: journalists are, I venture to suggest somewhat gleefully, attacking Nokia and, increasingly, its products in the Egyptian media.

Now the outbreak of grumpiness has crossed over into that most delicate of relationships: that between PRs and journalists. An invitation has been sent out to Egypt’s PR fraternity (‘the marina boys’ in the invitation: a reference to the fact that PRs are seen as yahoos from the yacht club) that offers them a training course in writing media releases and other materials in ‘decent’ Arabic.

It would appear that battle lines are being drawn and that there is going to be some fun to be had out of this. Long abused, disrespected and neglected, Egypt’s journalists have often created a rod for their own backs because it is all too easy to ‘buy’ coverage – either through paying the paper directly or a journalist indirectly. There are, don’t get me wrong, decent and scrupulous journalists in Egypt who do not do this.

It would appear, however, that the money is no longer enough. It looks like the sheer disrespect accorded Egyptian journalists has finally become too much. Companies beware!

Late

Better late than never, they say... With profuse apologies for my tardiness this week, here is another smattering of little literary jewels from the strange and wonderful pen of K. Malik, author of 1111 Letters for Every Occasion, the guide to brilliant correspondence that is brought to us by New Light Publishers of New Delhi.


Response to Notices
Government notices bring forth a bumper harvest of replies. Your letters must be attractive enough to catch the eye, otherwise it is a labour of love gone-down the drain.

Paying Income Tax
With reference to your public notice in the national press, enclosed herewith is the receipted challan for payment of advance tax.

Freedom Fighters
Is it necessary that a man should have to go to jail in order to qualify as a freedom fighter!
I fought for freedom by writing a book against the British every month during the Quit India Movement. Am I not a freedom-fighter?


To,
The Maharashtra Emporium
New Delhi
Dear Sir
Kindly send me some of your fashion tips for my old wife who is becoming so unfashionable that I am being driven from pillar to post in the Delhi University campus looking for a modern wife.


Free Literature
Kindly supply me free literature for the eradication of malaria in my locality.

Positive Reply
We have the honour to send you herewith literature for the eradication of malaria as desired by you.

Negative Reply
We have run out of stock of literature on eradication of malaria.
It appears as if the mosquitoes have eaten or flown away the books against them!

Next week: Letters of Complaint

Law

The weighty tome that is Gulf News landed with more than the usual 'thud' this morning - and not because of yet another massive property supplement crammed with vacuous, mind-numbing calls to experience an iconic lifestyle and the rest of it. Oh no. it was because the news was heavier than usual: the UAE's new publication law is in draft and now being put in front of the Cabinet following its approval by the ministerial legislative committee.

The news also outlines the fines that will be imposed under the new legislation. Sadly, GN's report omits a rather important zero...

GN's headline trumpets that the law will scrap the jail term for journalists. However, it would appear from the report itself, that the law continues the practice of potentially criminalising the practice of journalism, rather than building a legal framework for recourse on behalf of companies or individuals who believe that journalism has served them ill.

The distinction is an important one. It means cases will continue to be brought against journalists by the state rather than by individual or corporate litigants. In other words, the state would continue to hold journalists and their newspapers responsible for adherence to a law that limits the practice of journalism and that imposes a range of measures against them if the state judges them to be in breach of the law.

The maximum fine, according to GN, will be Dhs 100,000 or just a tad over $27,000. Which ain't too bad. However, according to front page stories in the Arabics, including Al Bayan and Al Ittihad, the fines will range from Dhs 100,000 to Dhs 1,000,000 - $270,000. For those who are worrying about inflation, that's a ten-fold increase from the previous publishing law.

Another interesting detail that GN gives is that the new law will hold the journalist and the newspaper accountable, rather than (as previously) the journalist and the, necessarily UAE National, editor in chief.

More details on the long awaited legislation will now, hopefully, start to emerge. But I can't say it looks good so far.

What, if anything, awaits bloggers in the new legislation is another issue entirely. But I'm not sure that many of us have a million dirhams in loose change kicking around...

If you extend the definition of journalists to encompass bloggers (and don't think for a second that the courts here wouldn't do that), it also would tend to suggest that Google and Wordpress ('the newspaper' if bloggers are 'the journalist') had probably better make sure they have some ready cash lying around, too...

Back

Having had a more than marvellous time in Berlin, I have to record, sadly, that I didn’t get back in time to post a ‘1111 letters’ post. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

Sorry, Ammouni, Keefie and Nick!

It’s been a mad three days: a lot of meetings, greetings and sharing of knowledge and information with our friends and partners across Europe and Asia. I probably neglected to mention that I’ve been attending the Pleon Summer Academy, an annual event that brings together representatives of the agencies and offices that together make up Europe’s largest, and leading, communications consultancy. And yes, that was a plug. Oddly enough, for someone who is often (totally unfairly, of course) labelled as misanthropic, I enjoy the Academy. This year I got to score points off a powerful civil servant, which was lovely. I got to eat a load of really bad things involving cheese, pork, cream and other rich stuff. I’m not even talking about the volume of beer. I got to wander around Checkpoint Charlie again, this time in the company of friends, although Unter den Linden was closed to us because of a huge parade of gay people – we were passed on the road by enormous hairy men wearing dresses and sporting iridescent wigs, black-leathered bikers and many, many more fascinations.

Over the last few days, I’ve had the chance to talk to a lot of smart people and old friends about the stuff that we do at work that actually interests me, in a convivial and pleasant setting. I consider myself unusually lucky in being able to do that.

Anyway, business as usual tomorrow. Promise.

Machtnicht

Being in Berlin and finding myself in the Reichstag (as one does), I took the opportunity to chat to my old friend Matthias Machnig, German state secretary for the Federal Ministry of the environment, nature conservation and nuclear safety.

Matthias spent some time kindly talking to our little group, outlining his views of the world of communications. His stance was broadly that only people who belong in, and therefore understand, the corridors of power should have the right to access those corridors and the grandees contained therein. The egalitarianism of the Internet and the wacky world of Web 2.0 was certainly something that Herr Machtnicht wasn't going to take seriously.

Challenged on this view, he became somewhat defensive and arrogant, instantly losing the sympathy of 180 communications professionals from around Europe. Having been charged with a certain degree of arrogance, his response was "If I was arrogant, I wouldn't have given up my valuable time today to talk to you!"

His valuable time, as a consequence, was invested in creating a most definite feeling of irritation and even alienation amongst his audience.

A lesson in communications, indeed...

Trucked

The scenes outside our local ADNOC have started to become apocalyptic: a line of 45 buses stretches out onto the sand-roads behind the petrol station, blocking access to our house from the main road: the line of trucks on the other side stretches out just as far, curling into a strange mandala of decorated, jangling, garishly painted flat-backs. We’re looking at well over 100 vehicles stacked up for the final approach to cheap diesel: Dhs10 per gallon less than Dubai’s filling stations. For a lorry with a 100 gallon tank, that’s a lot of Mars Bars. Every ADNOC’s the same - a line of waiting diesel consumers stretches around the back, down the road - any which way they can, really!

Lugubrious taxi driver Mr G says it’s because Dubai won’t buy refined product from Abu Dhabi and insists on importing the stuff. Interesting, the thought that this could all be down to a sort of family squabble.

Whatever the reason (and we have been rather short of investigative insight from our trusted ‘analogue’ media sources on that one, so Mr. G.’s speculative take is the best thing I’ve heard), the insane queues continue. It must be awful driving one of those orange tankers queued up outside Dubai Shitty City: ten hours to dump your load and then another five hours to fill up with enough diesel to get through the next day.

Paying Salik would be a relief for them: in fact, I could afford to let both queues cross Salik at my expense and still have credit left over, thanks to the muddled administration of the toll that likes to say ‘It’s not our fault our system doesn’t work’...

Silence from the RTA continues. Gulf News' report on Salik's failings today just makes me feel even better about my chances of recovering the money they took as a result of their screw-up.

GnnnnnNNNNN!