The Federal Consumer Attorney’s Office (Profeco) analyzed 25 brands of packaged cupcakes that are distributed in the country to ensure that they comply with the provisions of their labels.
However, some of these received a failing grade, either because they provided erroneous information on the labeling or because of the damage they could bring to health due to their high sugar content.
Main ingredients and nutritional contribution
Profeco warns that sugars are the first or second ingredient in these pastries, so their consumption should be moderate. They also contain cereal or legume flours, fats or oils, raising agents, salt, eggs, milk, whipped cream, fruits or other optional ingredients, additives and preservatives.
Due to their high sugar and fat content, these products provide a greater number of calories than necessary, which can lead to weight gain and lead to obesity.
You can identify sugar on labels under the following names: sucrose, glucose syrup, juice concentrates, maltose, and invert sugar.
Mislabeled Cupcakes
The two cupcakes that failed this category are brought to Mexico from Romania and declare “zero sugars”, but in the nutritional table it says that they have added sugars, so they do not meet the standard. These are:
- Vualá swich
- Vualá swich roll
Harmful cupcakes due to excess sugars
These products alone cover the daily sugar recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO):
- Hostess cinnamon roll 113g, made in the USA
- Marinela Neapolitan 210g, made in Mexico
- Mrs. Freshley’s Balonazos 210g, made in the USA
cupcakes with sweeteners
In addition to sugars, these products are added with sorbitol, so they must include the legend on their label: “Contains sweeteners not recommended for children.” These are:
- Colosseo Amico, made in Italy
- Freddl Dark, made in Italy
- Moretta tiramisu, made in Italy
- Fresh dreddl buondolce latte, made in Italy
- Freddl dolcetto, made in Italy
The highest calorie cake
The energy content of this product is very high, as it reaches 398kcal:
- Hostess cinnamon roll 113g, made in the USA
Profeco emphasizes that consuming more calories than your body needs leads to overweight and obesity.
