When I first went vegetarian, I was a busy college student. I didn’t have time for cooking so bought these on a regular basis.
These look familiar? They are vegan so they must be healthy right? That was my thinking before I knew better. Let’s look at the ingredients.
There are a couple of scary ingredients here. The first is “natural” favor. Who knows what that is? Why do they have to use that blanket statement? When I eat food, I want to know what every ingredient is. It’s not like there is a bottle of “natural flavoring” you can buy at the store. This is also a slippery slope for vegans, because natural flavors can come from animal or plant sources. Here it is labeled non meat, but other labels may not specify. Yeast extract contains MSG. Moving down to another very scary ingredient, caramel color. Caramel color is a known carcinogen. These burgers are looking not so healthy. If you would like a veggie burger, you are better off making your own. You can make a big batch and freeze the extras so they will be just as easy to reheat as these processed ones. You can try my Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers or my Mushroom and Lentil Veggie Burgers. Please boycott this brand.
I am researching a post about the ingredients in soda and came across Carmel coloring and discovered the awful truth about it. Some soda manufacturers are reducing the amount of coloring to avoid having to label it as potentially cancer causing. While that’s a start, it’s definitely not enough.
I think it is great that they are taking steps to make changes, although, I agree its not enough.
What I don’t understand is why they think food, drink, whatever has to be made to “look” like a particular color?? Isn’t it the way it tastes? I’d rather have a clear carbonated drink (if I drank them) and know that I’m not drinking a carcinogen. Ever take an orange off a tree? Not completely orange when ripe, huh? etc.
I totally agree. It makes me so upset. They need to stop messing with food.
sooooooooooooooo grateful found your site!!!! i cant stop reading and here i thought i was semi-knowledgable….YOU ROCK!!!
Thanks for reading. I thought I was knowledgeable too! Until I started reading labels myself.
I think the problem in our society is that when we read food labels, we are taught to only look at calories and fat grams. We completely forget to look at the composition of what our food is made from. In my profession as a registered nurse, I am making a concerted effort to give my patients the tools to be more informed about what they eat. Not only do I educate them about eating well, I show them how to read ingredients on a food label. The rule of thumb is if it has more than five ingredients then you might want to choose something else. In addition if it has too many words you are unfamiliar with then choose something else.
I completely agree! That is why I am trying to spread the real word with posts like this. Thank you for reading.
Yep!! I completely agree!
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Thanks so much for another informative article. I did not know about caramel coloring being a known carcinogen. Although all soy scares me off these days, due to the increase in GMO based soy. It is really frightening to think I ate these products for years without reading the ingredients, and the big corporations are getting away with selling harmful foods. Keep up the great articles!
Thank you and you are welcome! I, too, ate these all the time. It is scary to think about. Now, when I buy soy products, I just make sure they have the non GMO verified label on them.
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Boca Burgers, like many meat-substitutes, relies on “soy protein concentrate” (aka “soy protein isolate”). This heavily altered version of the soy bean is damaging to your endocrine system and can cause dramatic hormonal imbalances. Stick with whole, unprocessed soy in reasonable portions and ditch this chemically processed
I completely agree Naomi. I rarely eat soy products and when I do, I make sure they are organic and non GMO.
I don’t know why anyone would eat these! I don’t eat meat and I wouldn’t touch these with a ten foot pole!