Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50 Million Boxes Later

[SummerMadness]

Kraft Reveals Revamped Mac and Cheese, 50 Million Boxes Later

Usually when companies come out with a new and improved formula, they want the public to know. But when the item in question is an iconic food product, the calculus gets tougher. Every marketer remembers with a shudder the cautionary tale of New Coke.

So when Kraft Heinz reached inside the blue box to tweak the recipe for its macaroni and cheese, it chose to whisper rather than shout the results.

 

[TerranceL]

That's pretty smart. The people who liked it already are already fans of the change and will hopefully be happier knowing they are getting a healthier alternative.


On a side note: So that's what happened to Craig Killborn after he left late night CBS. Making cheese.

 

[SummerMadness]

I don't know if it's really healthier, I think the reformulation was the result of a campaign by the Food Babe, who starts anti-food campaigns based on pseudoscience. While I like healthier choices that use more ingredients you can simply find in your cupboard, I don't like when people push pseudoscience on our food. That's one reason I don't mind GMO food, I don't think it's unhealthy; nonetheless, my issue with them has more to do with genetic diversity and the overuse of pesticides.

They have to get Jon Stewart or Craig Ferguson next.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

I make Mac and cheese for kids. I hope it's something they will like. I'm sure adults don't eat this. Right?

 

[TerranceL]

I don't know if it's really healthier, I think the reformulation was the result of a campaign by the Food Babe, who starts anti-food campaigns based on pseudoscience. While I like healthier choices that use more ingredients you can simply find in your cupboard, I don't like when people push pseudoscience on our food. That's one reason I don't mind GMO food, I don't think it's unhealthy; nonetheless, my issue with them has more to do with genetic diversity and the overuse of pesticides.

They have to get Jon Stewart or Craig Ferguson next.

Welp, that got my attention.

https://newrepublic.com/article/121...se-wont-have-artificial-dyes-or-preservatives

Blogger Vani Hari, aka the Food Babe, declared victory after her petition—"Kraft: Stop Using Dangerous Food Dyes in Our Mac & Cheese"—got 365,000 signatures. “The thousands of letters I have received from parents whose children have benefited from the removal of artificial food dyes are ringing in my ear this morning,” Hari wrote. “We finally did it.”

Exactly what did they accomplish? After all, Kraft's new mac and cheese won't be any healthier.

"There won’t be any significant change to calories, sat fat, sugar or sodium with the change to no artificial preservatives or synthetic colors," a Kraft spokeswoman, Lynne Galia, emailed me. Other company statements hint that this decision was a superficial attempt to make people feel less guilty about eating macaroni and cheese. “We know parents want to feel good about the foods they eat and serve their families,” Galia told Reuters. "We've worked hard so the new recipe will have the same look and taste that people know and love from the iconic blue box," said another spokesman.

In other words, a box of the new Kraft mac and cheese—and it's not uncommon to eat the entire box as a single meal—will still contain around 780 calories, 75 calories from fat, 9 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, and 1,710 milligrams of sodium (a whopping 72 percent of the daily value). And that's before you add the butter. But by removing artificial preservatives and synthetic colors, Kraft will be allowed to market the product as "natural." That doesn't mean much: The Food and Drug Administration only requires products with a"natural" label to "not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances.” It’s still processed and not necessarily healthier for you, but consumers might not know the difference.

Well it looks like the Food Babe didn't win anything but is too stupid to understand what they actually changed.

Another win for woo.

 

[SummerMadness]

Welp, that got my attention.

https://newrepublic.com/article/121...se-wont-have-artificial-dyes-or-preservatives

Well it looks like the Food Babe didn't win anything but is too stupid to understand what they actually changed.

Another win for woo.

As I've told the people that are all about their organic foods, they can make organic Twinkies and they will still make you fat if you eat too many.

 

[JustOneWay]

I will take my homemade mac and cheese with Vermont sharp cheddar and Gruyère over Kraft's Khemical Koncoction any day....

 

[TerranceL]

As I've told the people that are all about their organic foods, they can make organic Twinkies and they will still make you fat if you eat too many.

I get that the whole "organic" label is supposed to have something to do with how it's grown... but c'mon find another name. I get tired of seeing, "Organic" labels and thinking, "Well yeah, so is all the rest of the food.

 

[TerranceL]

I will take my homemade mac and cheese with Vermont sharp cheddar and Gruyère over Kraft's Khemical Koncoction any day....

I've always assumed if you were eating Kraft mac and cheese either:

A: You were pressed for time and didn't want to make something good.

B: You just don't care.

C: You're in college and Kraft Mac and Cheese (with meat additions) is 85% of your diet.

 

[cow451]

As I've told the people that are all about their organic foods, they can make organic Twinkies and they will still make you fat if you eat too many.

I am waiting for organic Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

 

[SummerMadness]

I get that the whole "organic" label is supposed to have something to do with how it's grown... but c'mon find another name. I get tired of seeing, "Organic" labels and thinking, "Well yeah, so is all the rest of the food.

I have always considered labeling to be about giving consumers the choice, but there are too many people that believe organic and natural mean healthy. Natural flavoring and artificial flavoring come from the same chemical plant in New Jersey.

People do not realize that processed food is "bad" not because it's processed, but because it usually has higher sugar/salt content (i.e., for flavoring and preservatives). I always chuckle at the people that talk about not wanting chemicals or poison in their body, then they smoke a cigarette and/or drink alcohol.

 

[nightflight]

Tuna Mac rules.

 

[cow451]

Tuna Mac rules.

Made me hungry.