Posted on 04/29/2005 3:50:51 PM PDT by Jmouse007
Howie Carr was discussing the fact that Kraft is in the process of changing OREO cookies, I could not believe it; they are releasing it this fall. They are going to remove trans fat from the recipe! There is only one thing, according to Kraft, the trans fat gives the cookie it's distinct flavor and firmness/texture. That's right folks, the very thing that makes Oreos, Oreos is being removed. Why? Well, I wrote a letter to Kraft and they told me in the following response from Kraft:
From: Kraft - Online Team2
mailto: OnlineTeam2@Casupport.com
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2005 5:39 PM
Subject: RE: Your Comment/Question
Thanks for visiting our website!
As part of Kraft's overall Health and Wellness initiatives, we are working to improve the nutrition profile of our product portfolio. This includes a major effort to reduce or, wherever possible, eliminate trans fat from our products, while continuing to meet expectations for taste and quality.
Where possible, we are doing this without increasing the combined amount of saturated fat plus trans fat in our products. We now have a recipe identified for our original Oreo that contains 0 grams trans fat per serving and plan to introduce this in the United States by year-end.
In addition to our many reduced-fat and fat-free products, we offer a number of products that contain 0 g of trans fat per serving (as defined by the FDA, see below), including cookies, crackers, snacks, cereals, beverages, candy, and meat alternatives.
Please add our site to your bookmarks and visit us again soon!
Kim McMiller
Associate Director, Consumer Relations
OnlineTeam2@Casupport.com
Please direct all consumer questions to Kraft Customer Service:
call 1-800-323-0768
Or visit:
www.kraftfoods.com
My Response:
Dear Ms. Kim McMiller,
In your misguided attempt to change the "nutrition profile" of your product portfolio, you are in the process of changing Oreo Cookies, the only decent manufactured cookie in the entire country. I guarantee you I and millions of other Oreo customers are going to stop buying your product and actively fight against this misguided attempt to mess with the original formula. Coke lost MILLIONS of dollars and millions of customers over "New Coke" and Kraft is about to make the same mistake with "New Oreo's" aka "New Coke 2".
The people behind "New Coke" lost their jobs and it took years for Coke to rebuild it's disenfranchised customer base. You are in the process of making the very same mistake. Your misguided attempt is destined to meet with failure, it is already being discussed on talk radio (Howie Carr WRKO, Boston) and everyone calling in was disgusted and said they were no longer going to buy Oreo's. My extended family and I are among them and you are about to hear from millions of customers just like us.
A disenfranchised/former Oreo/Kraft customer actively involved in boycotting "New Oreo's",
Dr. Jerry S
Freepers, if you love Oreo's and do not want the PC crowd to tell you what to eat, I would advise as many FR people as possible to call and write Ms.Kim McMiller, Associate Director, Consumer Relations Kraft Foods, and let her know what you think of "New Oreos".
Time to let Kraft know how you feel; call 1-800-323-0768
My family and I will boycott.
BTW, it's interesting that so many people here are complaining about the "health nazis" -- when this is trans fat issue is one of the RARE times when the "health nazis" are actually biochemically right. (They were wrong about carbs, wrong about cholesterol, wrong about animal fat, wrong about soy, wrong about alcohol... just this once, they're right, let's give 'em credit.)
Years ago I wrote a steaming letter to the bakers of Hydrox cookies complaining about the change in their recipe. The new Hydrox cookies lacked the distinctive flavor I liked.
A vice president wrote me a nice and fairly long letter, signed in real ink, describing the changes and why....The reason was that the public wanted Oreos and now Hydrox was like Oreo.
Hydrox coookies are no more.
Please see my post 42.
Have you seen Hydrox cookies recently?
I thought they were long gone.
Everybody dies from something....and in the end, it's always a heart attack. So what?
FMCDH(BITS)
It also appears they took the salt out of "saltines" also. Hold the cracker sideways....no salt on top. Little if any salt inside, either. They taste exactly like communion wafers.
I looked on Publix's shelf, and all the cracker boxes now state the same thing and some say "low sodium". There's no choice now. Eat these tasteless squares of crispy shirt cardboard with your soup or switch to (what?)
(....they break and crumble real easy now, to boot)
Leni
"This is what FR has come to.....OREO cookies on a Friday night..."
Sometimes an Oreo is just an Oreo. :)
The Hydrox Cookie Page
www.spacefem.com/hydrox
The Truth
Most of my knowledge of the hydrox story comes from this Fortune article: http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,4537,FF.html Paul Lukas reports:
Hydrox debuted in 1908, the signature product of the nascent Sunshine Biscuits, and ruled the category until 1912, when National Biscuit (later Nabisco) launched the remarkably similar Oreos. Given Nabisco's superiority over Sunshine in everything from distribution channels to advertising budgets, it was no contest--Hydrox never had a chance. Over the years, Oreos' popularity and market hegemony became so overwhelming that the product transcended the consumer realm and came to be viewed as a cultural icon, an American original--even though there was nothing original about it.
Yes, we were had. But then what happened? Hydrox were no longer even manufactured.
[Keebler] acquired Sunshine in 1996 and, after a careful review process, is now bringing Sunshine's cookies under the Keebler brand umbrella. Most of the products will simply get a packaging revision, but Keebler decided that the Hydrox situation called for more drastic measures. The cookies themselves have been given a kid-oriented design face-lift, with an updated flavor formulation to follow this spring. The biggest change, however, is the name: Hydrox will henceforth be known as Keebler Droxies.
"Updated flavor formulation..." there you have it. I'd highly recommend reading the whole article, it's very informative.
It's not just about living a few years longer or the obsessive fear of death, it's a real and serious quality-of-life issue *right now*. Trans fats disrupt the omega-3 pathway, causing severe skin rashes in some people (myself included) and other inflammatory symptoms in other people (asthma/allergies, etc).
I haven't eaten Oreos, or many other snack foods, in years.
ya beat me to it! :O)
That's a great site. The lady has a blog going.
Why don't you taste it before you complain about the new recipe? You might actually like it.
In the time it took to start this thread, a million illegals crossed the border and terrorists still want to kill us all.
I haven't eaten Oreos, or many other snack foods, in years.,/I>
I can understand your concern. If a person knows their condition, why would they partake of trans-fats? My objection is to the heavyhanded approach by the gubbmint to stop all people from having what they want, by way of food control. You're free not to eat old fashioned Oreos and I'm free to eat them. Please don't miss the point.
FMCDH(BITS)
Since then millions of us have complained about the borders to the president, to our elected officials and to the powerless Republicans and what has been the result: no profiling; little 83 year old ladies in wheel chairs are body searched at the airport while Achmed walks through. The boarders are wide open and the invasion continues.
So, why bother with politicians who only care about themselves and will not do anything to protect America until reality smacks them us the side of the head (notice, I did not say them, they have special fallout shelters and bunkers and secret service people to protect their sorry buts while you and I get to take it right between the eyes. In the meantime, Kraft wants to ruin Oreo Cookies all in the name of saving us from ourselves. Well, as consumers we CAN do something about that, we don't just have to stand by and let it happen. This boycott will work, it worked with "New Coke" and it worked with DIVX (have you had to pay to watch your own DVD's since you first watched it? No, because consumers like me fought Richard Sharp and boycotted Circuit City and Coke and it worked.
We can't close/secure the borders but we can boycott Kraft and let them know that we will no longer buy their Oreo's if they decide they want to shove "New Oreo's" down our throats.
Suuuuuuure. That's exactly what I'm gonna do. That way I can regularly check up on them to see if they have added any new stuff for me to look at, nice use of space on my screen.
A subtle point, but an important one, is being missed. The only thing the government is forcing companies to do is report the amount of trans-fat in the product on the label just as they have to report the amount of saturated fat, total fat, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamin content, etc. The government is not forcing companies to remove trans-fat.
The decision to remove trans-fat is driven by profit. Kraft knows that products with "0 Trans Fats!" plastered on the label will *sell*. There are so few baked goods made without hydrogenated oils that the first good trans-fat-free cookies are going to make a fortune.
And it is certainly possible to make a good trans-fat-free cookie.... but you have to use expensive, old-fashioned ingredients like butter, lard, coconut oil, or palm kernel oil. I don't have high expectations for any cookie based on some over-engineered unsaturate.
FYI (and everyone else who loves Oreo's) here it is:
1-800-323-0768
True, but if they were made with Lard they'd be healthy for everyone.
BTW trans fats are indeed bad for everyone (though the effects are more immediate in some folks). The studies decades ago that blamed "saturated fats" for heart disease, actually used artificially hydrogenated fats (with trans-impurities). The trans-fat scam is responsible for the whole liberal/socialist/vegetarian anti-saturated fat crusade -- which happens to be totally wrong.
FYI Bump for all you Oreo lovers out there in FR land.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.