Hansel and Gretel

Bread crumbs.

Simple little things correct?

Some wheat flour, yeast and salt… maybe a little sugar and sunflower oil.

Thats it… right?

Not necessarily the case. I don’t know about any of you but in an attempt to curb the craving for fried food I would often sprinkle a few bread crumbs on my broiled fish fillet or chicken cutlets to mimic that “crispy crunchy” feeling of fried food. How bad could they be. It’s just a few plain ole bread crumbs.

I’ve never been more wrong in my life.

By all rights it should be nearly harmless but unless you are reading the label, a package of bread crumbs could be a canister full of chemical warfare and sugar.

Yes, I said chemicals and sugar.

Why would you beloved prepackaged bread crumbs have sugar you ask. I asked myself the same thing when I compared the two in my cabinet.

Both were plain bread crumbs and not seasoned, Italian or anything like that. Both were just plain bread crumbs and this is what I found:

   

You can clearly see that the Progresso bread crumbs on the left in blue has significantly more ingredients than the Kikkoman Panko bread crumbs on the right. If that wasn’t bad enough lets talk Nutrition.

                                

The Progresso not only has a boatload more ingredients (many of which are chemical additives and several forms of sugar) it also has a more calories (roughly 11 more for the gram weight), 3 times the amount of fat and 6 times the amount of sodium than the Kikkoman Panko per serving. If we are what we eat, don’t become a toxic waste dump by not reading the ingredients. Your body is counting on you, so mind the labels

Strive to watch what you add to your food. What sounds like a healthy choice may be an entirely different game under the microscope.