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Attention Trader Joe’s: Hire a Dietitian

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Trader Joe Nutrition Signage Blooper

A big thanks to Carol Harvey for taking these pictures at her local Trader Joe’s earlier this week. They have signs in the produce department pointing out the alleged nutritional benefits of various fruits and veggies.

One word: Embarrassing!

1. Tomatoes have almost no calcium.

2. Apples are just barely a “good” source of C (even less if they have been sitting around, as most apples do), but definitely not an “excellent” source (20% or higher of the recommended daily consumption).

3. Lastly, vitamin D is zip, unless lots of bacteria are on the outside making it. Yuk.

Thanks Carol, for correcting one of the signs ;-)

Trader Joe's Nutrition Signage Blooper #2

UPDATE:

Someone at TJ’s has been listening. As a result, the signs have been changed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • MrBillWest

    Or just learn to use the internet. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Heidi-Hall/607570309 Heidi Hall

    wow *LOL*  that is quite bad! the person who made those signs should be fired *ha*

  • http://herbalwater.typepad.com/ Ayala

    Fun post.

    I hope the dietician they hire doesn’t go the vitamin and
    micronutrient route – it has confused consumers into thinking that good
    nutrition is about getting enough vitamins.

  • http://www.semisweetonline.com/ Sarah @ Semi-Sweet

    I’m stunned! That’s just plain careless – as MrBillWest says, just look up the nutritionals on the ‘net, for goodness sake!

  • http://www.semisweetonline.com/ Sarah @ Semi-Sweet

    I’m stunned! That’s just plain careless – as MrBillWest says, just look up the nutritionals on the ‘net, for goodness sake!

  • PJay

    Yikes, does it really matter that much? Careless, yes, but it *does* feel like we have bigger problems than this in our food world. But who cares about the fact that we consume synthetic fats and are hurtling towards an obesity epidemic. Nope, as long as we can make fun of Trader Joe’s for incorrectly labeling the benefits of fresh produce. Good work, guys. ;)

    • http://twitter.com/tdhurst Tyler Hurst

      Trader Joe’s should know better. We all assume Wal-Mart is poisoning us, but Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and similar are supposed to be the ones we trust.

      • Anonymous

        I’d agree they should know better.   In most cases I think people very willingly give stores like Trader Joe’s a pass, but as you say assume Wal Mart is poisoning us.

        It is false advertising..Trader Joes should get called out on it just as quickly as any other outlet.

      • Anonymous

        I’d agree they should know better.   In most cases I think people very willingly give stores like Trader Joe’s a pass, but as you say assume Wal Mart is poisoning us.

        It is false advertising..Trader Joes should get called out on it just as quickly as any other outlet.

      • Anonymous

        I’d agree they should know better.   In most cases I think people very willingly give stores like Trader Joe’s a pass, but as you say assume Wal Mart is poisoning us.

        It is false advertising..Trader Joes should get called out on it just as quickly as any other outlet.

      • Anonymous

        I’d agree they should know better.   In most cases I think people very willingly give stores like Trader Joe’s a pass, but as you say assume Wal Mart is poisoning us.

        It is false advertising..Trader Joes should get called out on it just as quickly as any other outlet.

  • Fistukm

    This doesn’t surprise… While Trader Joes does some things really well, they do have an annoying habit of adding (clean labeled) MSG to some of their food items, as well as parabens and other junk to their soaps.

  • CMFD

    As a TJs employee, I’m ashamed of those signs. I pride myself on knowing that nutritional content of produce and those signs are just careless. Just know that those signs are local to that store and not in every TJ’s. We are better than that.

    • http://www.fooducate.com/blog Fooducate

      Makes sense. We didn’t see this in the TJ in our neighbrhood

  • Calbears

    Carol Harvey, you just bought yourself an 86 from 100.

  • TJsforlife

    These are actually signs from the TJ’s I work at, and I was there when the customer who wrote on our signs threw a fit about them. The person who made them was young, new to TJ’s, new to signmaking, and did not know about the nutritional “good” “great” etc adjective rules, obviously. TJ’s would NEVER purposely post incorrect and misleading information. While making the sign they read “good” or “fair” in our reference book and thought, “good, why not write excellent?” It was sincerely in all innocence of a young worker new to the food biz. I don’t think any other crew noticed either because we don’t spend time reading & fact-checking signs, because nearly 100% of the time it’s accurate. We of course appreciate customers (politely) letting us know of something that may be incorrect (again, never on purpose), but actually writing on TJ’s property was a little over the line, in my opinion. I hope the signmaker doesn’t see this, they already felt terrible about it and has been fully educated on the nutritional definitions. Now that you know the real story, how this was a innocent accident, I would like to request taking this down, unless this blog is about making fun of people’s mistakes, as a result of being human and not a computer. Thanks. :)

  • Jenn

    Do we really need to know every vitamin in our produce in order to know that it’s good for us and we need to eat more of it? Eat real food and stop counting calories & vitamins.