BREAKING UPDATE May 4, 2015: Panera Bread has agreed to remove 150 additives from their food. Starting this week, Panera Bread will only sell salad dressing made without artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors and preservatives. This is the direct result of the ongoing pressure you and the Food Babe Army have put on companies to serve safer and more healthful ingredients. Thank you!
USA Today reported these additional details:
Some examples of artificial additive removal:
• Greek salad dressing — removed hydrogenated soy protein, maltodextrin, propylene glycol alginate, and the generic spice blend.
• Mozzarella on tomato mozzarella flatbread — removed titanium dioxide.
• Chicken noodle soup — removed hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, autolyzed yeast extract, and modified corn starch
• Poppyseed dressing —- removed cellulose gel and artificial flavors.
Please note: The action by Panera does not include the beverages it sells, though executives say they are working on that, too, particularly in bottled beverages.
The New York Times lists several other companies that are changing their ingredients (Hershey’s, Nestle, Chipotle, Nabisco, McDonalds and Tyson’s). This is all a result of our collective activism! Again, thank you for working for a better food system with me – we are winning!
Update June 3, 2014: Panera Bread announces they will remove all artificial colors, sweeteners, preservatives and flavors by 2016. Thank you #FoodBabeArmy for sharing this post continuously since April 2012 when it was first released. We are changing the world one company at a time by spreading the truth!
CNBC interviewed me about Panera committing to remove all artificial ingredients, here’s what I said: “Panera’s announcement is another example that consumer awareness and action is changing the food industry. … I appreciate Panera’s commitment to remove artificial ingredients and hope other major restaurant chains take notice to do the same.” (McDonalds, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Domino’s, etc. – listen up!!!) I investigated Panera Bread back in April 2012 because so many people (including my own parents) were under the impression it was healthy. Panera was even voted one of the healthiest fast food chains despite their overuse of artificial ingredients! I wanted people to know the truth and when people know the truth, these companies have no where to hide – they have to change to meet demand!
Original Investigation Published April 16, 2012:
My lovely mother sent me home with a bag full of home cooked food last week on Easter. It included her famous Indian flat bread stuffed with radishes, lentil soup and stir fried cauliflower. While everything was super delicious as usual, something caught me a little off guard… the Panera Bread bag she reused for me to carry home all those goodies.
Panera Bread is popping up all over the place…I see one outside my office window at work. I drove past three on my way to the park last Sunday…
And then while my friend Amy was traveling through a small town in South Carolina that I frequently visit, which is also a food desert (a place that shall remain nameless or my better half would kill me) … She texted with an urgent “Where do I stop to eat?” I didn’t have a good answer for her and I certainly didn’t suggest Panera Bread.
So given these signs, I had to feed my inner curiosity of why I just cringe at the thought of eating there. What I found was some startling ingredients this oh so fresh and so clean looking bakery style deli uses in their famous salads, sandwiches, soups and breads. With industrialized food sourcing over 90% of what Americans eat – It’s easy to get fooled, even with the simplest and freshest sounding menu items.
Luckily, Panera (like all companies should) provides you with all the information you need at your finger tips via their website where they list all the nutrition facts including the ingredients for all of their dishes. Here’s just a sampling of some of the ingredients that might make you think twice before stopping off for a bite…
First up – The Fuji Apple Salad. Looks pretty healthy doesn’t?
But nope… This salad is heavily processed. Those apple chips on top are made with canola oil and corn syrup which is highly likely to be genetically modified. The greek dressing has an ingredient most people use in their car engines as anti freeze aka propylene glycol… (If you want to know more about this substance – I go into detail about it in a Supermarket Birthday Cake Exposé.) Oh and look at all those tasty “natural” flavors (probably from Givaudan, a chemical food manufacturer).
And then if you are brave enough to order something as simple as a ham & swiss on rye… you’ll get a dosage of nitrates. Nitrates are dangerous for your health and are toxic to the brain. They are linked to Alzheimer’s and many forms of cancer. No one should be eating them. There’s really no reason to eat chemically preserved cured and smoked meat. Get it fresh, get it organic, and or don’t eat it at all. It’s that simple.
What about the whole grain bread… It’s got to be whole grain, right? They are Panera BREAD for goodness sakes.
Nope… Don’t get excited, it’s not 100% whole grain, just half. Like the rye bread that is used for the ham and swiss, the first ingredient after water, is enriched flour. There is nothing whole grain about enriched flour – this bread should actually be called half white bread if they were really going to name this correctly and were telling us the whole picture.
The most upsetting menu items were in the soup department… check out the hidden MSG in this Broccoli and Cheese Soup & Low Fat Black Bean Soup under disguise names “hydrolyzed corn and soy protein, autolyzed yeast extract and yeast extract” This is food industry trickery at it’s best! A little off topic, but relevant, the food company that makes Pop Chips is using this same trick too….I avoid this additive at all costs because MSG is an ingredient that literally excites your brain cells to death.
Now comes the worst part of this whole story. Health Magazine rated Panera Bread as the #1 Healthiest Fast Food Restaurant in America.
REALLLLLLY?! Is this the best fast food we can get? Does fast have to automatically assume processed? Salad dressing with propylene glycol? Meats with nitrates? Enriched bleached flour bread? Soup filled with MSG?! A whole menu full of GMOs?
Health Magazine looked at the use of healthy fats, sodium content and the use of organic produce to determine their top 10 restaurants. Panera Bread got the #1 spot because they offer organic yogurt, organic milk, and organic cheese on their award winning kids menu, which I have to admit is a step above places like McDonalds but they are still using the same cheap ingredients that other fast food restaurants use to make money and to get you hooked.
If you don’t go into Panera knowing all the facts, you can get duped pretty easily. Take for instance that acclaimed kid’s menu….if you end up ordering the kid’s ham sandwich instead of the grilled cheese for your little one, you end up feeding them nitrates, but it’s still considered the “healthiest” because your child has the option to wash it all down with organic milk.
Until fast food companies make some serious and bold decisions to be consistent in their messages about the quality of their food, what additives are in and not in their foods and use a measurable trusty worth standard – I won’t be buying it or supporting them. It’s far too confusing to keep up with all these ingredients for the typical consumer, so the food industry continues to win.
Luckily for us, in this case, we don’t have to work that hard to find the ingredient list. Let’s applaud Panera Bread for providing us the information to make good decisions about what we eat and what we feed our families.
Unfortunately for them, I’ll be looking elsewhere to spend my dollars. Where are you going to spend yours? And how do you get your food fast?
If you know someone who could benefit from hearing this information about Panera – please share this article with them.
In the Best of Health,
Food Babe
Hi FoodBabe –
I’m a new follower. I’ve heard you reference “wood pulp” in foods before – but I’m assuming the ingredient list doesn’t SAY “wood pulp.” Can you tell me what ingredients are CODE for “wood pulp”?
Thanks!
Geri
If it has a lot of names, the most common would be cellulose.
Cellulose is the main component of the cell walls of plants. If you eat vegetables, you’re eating cellulose.
I read a label the other day for a spaghetti sauce that contained “bamboo pulp”. YIKES!
Bamboo is a grass. Have you ever had bamboo shoots in a stirfry? Why the “YIKES!”?
This is alarming…beginning to think there aren’t healthy options for eating out. Heard chili at Wendy’s is a good option. What do you think?
Food Babe doesn’t like the ingredients in Wendy’s Chili either…
https://foodbabe.com/2013/02/05/green-chili-why-making-it-yourself-is-priceless/
Not only that the ground beef in Wendy’s chili is from all the leftover meat from their burgers that are days old
That is 100%true. I used to work at Wendy’s. Any patty this is overcooked, broken, left over at the end of the day…etc, is thrown in a bucket and then put in the walk-in cooler until it is time to make chili again. Also note that the bucket sits out for hours at a time until it is full enough to put in the cooler. I will never ever eat their chili.
Thanks A P and JR. I don’t eat at Wendy’s that often, but have always heard that the chili was the healthiest option. I will never be tempted by the chili again on those seldom occasions.
I worked at Wendy’s. Any patty this is overcooked or broken is dropped down into a cooler and immediately refrigerated. Later it is boiled and then chopped. I think the post by j.r would lead one to believe that the meat sits in a bucket unrefrigerated until the end of the day. That does not happen.
The second cooking of the meat (prior to adding to the chili) lowers the fat content. While sodium might be high and beans are not organic clearly this is a healthy choice for those watching fat or saturated fat intake. We don’t all pack our lunches or remember our lunches every day. Its a good choice as compared to others.
Chemical warfare on your own citizens? I can’t keep up with all your good… no not good… exemplary work on keeping us informed. Thank you from Australia xx
you said it. it’s exactly that, “Chemical warfare on your own citizens” .. how sad it is that the government cares little on its citizen’s health. It’s all about big money. we’re all disposable and better yet if we’re unhealthy as it’s more money for the pharmaceutical companies.. it’s a win-win situation for the FDA.
so very sad.
If you want no GMO food you must grow your own, cook at home , and never go out with your friends. Chipotle is the most pure unadulterated food. For instance, the white rice is rice, lime juice and cilantro – no oil involved. (I have tried to eat regular brown rice for almost 40 years and no matter how it is prepared it tastes like dirt so I have not asked them about the brown rice ingredients.)
Ezekiel bread has wheat in it (and it is not the same wheat that Ezekiel ate due to laboratory manipulation). Sprouted wheat is ground into flour after is sprouted and dried. Bread by definition is made from flour and flour is usually wheat flour so the bread will rise and not fall apart. Flour is just a ground up grain, seed, legume, etc.
I see them pour liquid (oil?) ok the white rice at chipotle when I go…
My understanding is that that is the lime juice, but I could be mistaken.
I liked Chipotle until I found out most their foods have soy bean oil! 🙁 they are doing the best out there … I wish they would change their oil!
There is oil in the rice but the good news is they are switching to GMO-free Rice Bran Oil starting immediately 🙂
Instead of just not eating at Panera, how about flooding them with requests to healthy up their act? I have a friend who has already started a facebook contact campaign challenging them if Chipotles can go no GMO why can’t Panera?
Well, I read through several ingredient lists and found primarily wholsome and healthy ingrdients! I have never eaten at Panera before for it is an expense not consumate whith my budget. I doubt if you will find a healthier array of ingrediances in any prepared food establishment!
Just to make a disclaimer about propylene glycol, there are 2 different kinds that come from the same source. One is food grade and one is industrial grade and differ in their production processes. Chemicals and overprocessing should not be involved in our food, but I don’t believe in freaking people out worse than needed either. “The more you know…” haha
Industrially, propylene glycol is produced from propylene oxide[3] (for food-grade use), and global capacity in 1990 was 900,000 tonnes per year.[4] Different manufacturers use either non-catalytic high-temperature process at 200 °C (392 °F) to 220 °C (428 °F), or a catalytic method, which proceeds at 150 °C (302 °F) to 180 °C (356 °F) in the presence of ion exchange resin or a small amount of sulfuric acid or alkali.
Final products contain 20% propylene glycol, 1.5% of dipropylene glycol and small amounts of other polypropylene glycols.[5] Further purification produces finished industrial grade or USP/JP/EP/BP grade propylene glycol that is typically 99.5% or greater. Propylene glycol can also be converted from glycerol, a biodiesel byproduct. This starting material is usually reserved for industrial use because of the noticeable odor and taste that accompany the final product.
-wikipedia
Check into Atlanta Bread next…..we eat there all the time. They do have some organic stuff
The fuji apple chicken salad does not use greek dressing, it uses a “FUJI APPLE” dressing, so theres where your article went to the trash for me. I worked at Panera Bread, and all the nutritious facts are at customers hands, they have books and ingredients for them to look at. If people want to eat at Panera Bread, why not? Mcdonalds? why not? It’s their bodies, and to get all technical is just a waste of time, really. Because no one cares, we as americans are still going to subconciously eat what we want. Please get better sources.
Your comment “went to trash for me” when you said “no one cares”. There are many followers of Food Babe that do care and that will keep growing and growing. A lot of Americans are just unaware of what ingredients really are. I used to think Panera Bread was healthy but my eyes have been opened. I love the feel of the atmosphere in Panera Bread eateries and that the chickens aren’t given antibiotics but that is where the good ends. It is a start, though. By the way, the Fuji Apple dressing contains GMO’s and MSG, so it contains chemicals and crap just like most of the other food at Panera Bread.
to Jenne: if i could “like” your comment, i would:) and just did
Tiffany does not speak for “all” American. I am thankful for Food Babe, and other information sources and documentaries like Hungry for Change, Forks over Knives, and Food, Inc. !!!
What are you doing on this site if you don’t care what goes into your body? Quit being a troll. You don’t know what you’re talking about
Unfortunately everyone has a right to a comment,but that keeps it interesting.
Its so funny reading the rude comments- its like he is a Monsanto scientist that has drank the Kool-Aid!
To get “all technical” is not a waste of time. Educating people is necessary. Starting with you, get educated before speaking out about something you obviously know nothing about. Your ignorance is making you unhealthy and will wind up costing you more than you can imagine.
While I agree with the other commenters that the purpose of this site is to expose what really goes into our food so if you don’t care, don’t come to the site… I did hesitate on it because my first thought was “Fuji Apple Salad does NOT use Greek Dressing” which does make one question some of the validity. It’s the first thing the article mentions and it’s wrong.
I’m starting to believe you really can only eat healthy if you cook at home using ingredients you absolutely know are organic and not chemically processed. And for most people, that’s not realistic. 🙁
Tiffany…
How does one accomplish this: “…we as Americans are still going to subconsciously eat what we want.”… ??? I’d be thrilled to get nourishment by “…subconsciously” eating. Don’t think I’d gain an ounce behind that! LOL
Has ALL of America been so tragically DUMBED DOWN???
Thank you. I was wondering the same thing. Actually, both of your questions went through my mind as I read her comment.
HEY IF U DONT WANT TO EAT HEALTHY STAY OFF HERE AND LET US HEALTHY BE IN PEACE. ITS PEOPLE LIKE U WHO RUIN THIS COUNTRY …I BET U THINK ITS OK FOR GAYS TO MARRY TO. THEY ARE FREAKS . MAN AND WOMEN MAKE BABIES NOT A MAN AND MAN. HAVE A NICE DAY
Please! This is a healthy food website. Not a forum for your homophobic ignorance. A true Christian has love and compassion for all.
If you like fast food so much why don’t you leave your synical comments to yourself and stop following her page? You don’t belong here! Please go away!
sorry but you are missing the whole point. people are eating at panera or subway and not mcdonalds because they think they ARE making healthy/ier choices. an investigation like this opens people’s eyes and that’s a good thing. when given this information people will choose to continue to eat at these establishments or not and that is their choice but now they are informed about what it is they are eating. that’s the point.
Instead of thinking and wasting time where to go eat fast food isn’t it going to be faster and easier to start planning and home cooking your meals? Worried about social life? Invite people over for dinners instead of meeting at suspicious food restaurants. Is’s really that simple. No dice for lazy fox here.
Oh, this makes me sad. I had been using Panera Bread as a “healthy” reward and option for myself. It is a bit funny to me today as I discovered that I am a “food snob” because I feel guilty whenever I eat at fast food restaurants. Now, I have to add Panera Bread to the list. I just had the Fuji Apple Chicken salad!
As a manager at Panera, I feel the need to stand up for them. Truth is, there are many items that CAN be altered to provide the BEST product/quality to our customers. As a Vegetarian/mostly Vegan food baber, I will tell you I enjoy lunch at work every single day! You always have to do your research on food you are not preparing yourself, and can never assume some restaurant is 100% healthy! Sad we were blasted by foodbabe, but looking forward to showing this article to my bosses so we can try to be part of the change <3
Heather, what do you eat there that you can recommend?
Yay I love panera, it’s just about one of the last places left for me to eat ( the others being chipotle and cabo fresh). I do need to be able to eat out on occasion sometimes out of necessity and others for socialization! Panera has always been very helpful looking up ingredients for me and recently answering my question regarding L-cystene ( aka duck feathers and human hair- used as dough conditioner-eww)! I was happy to find that they have switched distributors and no longer use that ingredient, and use a vegan substitute instead!! There’s so few foods left for me to eat out, being vegan, I need (and love) my panera!!!
Blasted? She’s only bringing to light the bad ingredients Panera uses that are listed on their website. You can’t polish a turd Heather. There is NO reason to add all these chemicals to food except for cutting costs, that’s it. Panera is no better than Mcdonald’s, Wendy’s, etc.
I get my food fast by walking right to the garden. Thanks for your information and disappointing news on Panera.
That’s the best kind of fast food!
…and I’m in the middle of the polar vortex, where the temps today will feel like -36.
What do you think my garden looks like today? Sure, it would be nice to have fruits and vegetables outside my door, but that’s not realistic where I live.
We live in Connecticut, but still are eating from the garden. My husband covers the Winter crops with remay hoops and just goes under them to pick. We still have beets, kale, turnips.
… and I’m in the polar vortex, where temps will feel like -36 today.
So, what do you think would be available for me to pick in my garden? Nothing.
Please realize that what works for you doesn’t work for everyone.
uhhh… you seem REALLY mad that you live in a “Polar Vortex”…. are they holding you hostage? If not, maybe think of moving… you seem really hostile about not being about grow a garden.
UrbanMuse, you’d be hostile, too, if you had to live with multiple days of -35 weather 😉 !
That said, my response to the original poster was simply that not everyone is as lucky as she is, and to acknowledge her privilege. That does make me crazy!
But really, now… my husband and I should quit out jobs (in this bad economy) try to sell our home (in a bad market) and uproot our kids so we can move to a place where I can garden? Are you offering us (and pets!) a place to stay, rent free, while we do this? I didn’t think so. Again, with the privilege, as if moving, finding jobs and housing is something that anyone can do if they really wanted to.
I read and comment on many boards: Pop culture, books, news, ‘mommy’ and foodie. I tend to find the craziest commenters on news sites, but the most privileged while failing to acknowledge it are on ‘mommy’ and foodie. Not accepting that your perfect world view doesn’t work for everyone is a big turn off.
I was shocked when I saw the way Panera Bread prepares its soups! … They are shipped to the stores in plastic bags and then plopped into the heating vats in those same bags and cooked to very high temperatures IN THE BAGS! … I will never eat soup from there again… and maybe not from anywhere anymore. :/
Yuck!
Technically, they frozen soup is heated in a soup thermalizer which has hot water in it. After the soup comes up to a required temperature, the BPS free plastic bag is cut open and the soup is then poured out of the bag into another container. My question is “Did you really think there are people behind the counter cutting up all the ingredients and making the soup from scratch?”
Ppl need to wake up. Probably 90%+ of the restaurants, and not only the fast-food ones, out there get their food ready and pre-packaged. Only thing they do is heat them up in a microwave and voila…
I saw that too … all those BPA mixed right up in the soups ….
What about Popeyes. I know their biscuits are frozen but what’s in the spicy seasonings, the red beans (very high in fat and cholesterol), Cajun rice, chicken breading, etc.. Are the shrimp wild caught or nasty and unhealthy pond raised? This may be the place where fat people eat. This could be cholesterol heaven, literally!
It’s pretty bad. But here all of the the ingredients to their food:
http://www.dfwairport.com/apps/cma/pdf/Popeyes%20ingredients.pdf
What about Wendy’s Chili?
Patty- Here are the ingredients to the chili:
Chili: Water, Chili Base (tomatoes, salt, citric acid, calcium chloride), Ground Beef, Vegetable Mix (onions, celery, green peppers), Chili Beans (beans, water, sugar, corn syrup, salt, natural flavorings, onion powder, calcium chloride), Kidney Beans (kidney beans, water, sugar, corn syrup, salt, natural flavorings, onion powder, calcium chlo- ride, disodium EDTA [preservative]), Chili Seasoning (sugar, salt, modified corn starch, chili pepper, onion powder, spices, dextrose, garlic powder, citric acid, disodi- um inosinate & guanylate, xanthan gum, autolyzed yeast extract, soybean oil, caramel color, extractives of paprika, malic acid, red 40, natural and artificial flavor, silicon dioxide [anticaking agent])
Sign this Moveon.org Petitions: “Tell Panera Bread to stop hiding under the false pretense of claiming to be “healthy” when indeed they are not! Panera Bread needs to take action, remove GMO ingredients from their foods and move forward with full disclosure”
The safest course, is to tell ALL fast food places to **** off and die, and NEVER go to any of them, ever again. I’d rather go hungry than eat even a crumb from those dens of poison.
My company holds manager meetings at a Dennys restaurant. A few years ago we were at Panera. I had ordered the black bean soup because it seemed the cleanest, lowest calorie thing on the menu. My cohorts got the usual sandwiches, chips, soda and cookie. Many of them were falling asleep within an hour- no surprise with that probable 2,000 calorie lunch of carbs.
Today I wouldn’t touch any food there OR at Dennys. I bring my entire food needs to the meeting with me from home- including my own filtered water. Funny I’m the only one out of 15 people to opt out of what is surely some of the worst so-called food around. Fellow managers tell me that the food is really bad and they feel bad afterwards. Boss thinks it’s just me being strange when I pull out seaweed salad with chickpeas and home made almond crackers.
BUT there is a learning curve- give people some information and some ideas on how to prepare fresh food and they will start changing.
Calling them stupid, lazy and fat, Sammy, is not only mean, it creates hostility, hurt and resistance in the very people who need to open up to better choices.
And, it can’t feel good to you, in your heart, to put out such incredibly mean, judgmental bile.
Well put Emily!!!!
Nicely said Eileen!
Yay! Nicely said!
We were traveling last week and needed to stop somewhere for breakfast. My husband and I are Paleo, so finding a good option is rather difficult. I did some googling and found that Panera has a “hidden” menu with some healthier options. I never did find the menu, but people kept referring to a steak and egg bowl, so I asked for it. The employee said “Oh yeah, that’s on our power menu.” They had to look up how to make it, but it only included eggs, steak, tomatoes and avocado. It wasn’t spectacular, but had to be better than most other fast food breakfast offerings out there.
I like their power menu! I don’t understand why it’s hidden.
Sammy,
You have managed to offend most people on this post. What’s your problem? You are rude and look like a fool. Go to work or to another site
SAMMY IS A TROLL. DO NOT RESPOND TO HIS/HER MESSAGES. THAT IS WHAT THEY WANT. Internet ‘trolls’ are people who troll comments and blogs and try to pick fights and upset people over trivial things. Yes this is a real thing, sadly…
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=internet%20troll
Best thing to do is IGNORE! And they will move on. 🙂
I am sorry to say, but if you’re looking for healthy food the number one and only place you can be sure you’re eating well enough for your body is (drum roll please)….. in your own kitchen!! These companies are only companies for one soul reason; to make money. So sure, they want to offer healthier choices than most other fast food restaurants to appeal to more people, but the only way for them to squeeze the most money out of a single dish is to use artificial and genetically modified ingredients. If you have a problem with their way of “creating” their food, then don’t go there. It is as simple as that. This is a wonderful article to inform people of what they’re really eating but don’t slander and degrade Panera for what they do. They’re doing what they do best and that is to make money. They allow you to read their full nutrition facts and understand what their products are made of, so ignorance truly does not excuse anyone. Creating their own modified and artificial foods is a major problem in the food industry. However, one thing to realize is that this is how most restaurants operate. I have worked in several food industries in the past several years (will not name where I have worked) and most people would not believe how food is prepared. These are not fast food restaurants, but sit down restaurants where you spend your hard earned money to delve yourselves in greasy, deep-fried, fatty foods. In most restaurants, everything is frozen, bagged, and simply reheated. At the restaurants I have worked at soups are simple cut from a bag and reheated, any appetizer you think of is thrown in the deep fryer for a few minutes and served on a cute plate and dressed up, and anything else is thrown on the grill and drowned in high-caloric sauces with deep fried additives. Quick, simple, and easy to sell. So bottom line – learn to love your kitchen and only trust your own hands and you will learn the difference between real and rubber food.
Your comments are wrong. Restaurants can make things from scratch using good ingredients, they do it all the time in countries where the crap ingredients are banned. And they can still profit. Problem is it isnt the fastest and easiest way. Here in America we most businessess only care about money. That’s not the way it should be. Companies should care about their employees and patrons also. This is part of what’s wrong in our country. Many of us remember a time when people mattered, now only profits matter, and thats wrong. It should matter to people how they make their money, it should bother companies to know they choose to poison people and then hide the truth with creative wording like “natural flavorings”. Many of us miss that United States, I know I do.
We have a local “fast” food place caleld Bryn and Dane’s in Horsham, PA. They claim to be from farm to their store. I’ve eaten there a couple of times and would love to know if their menu is as clean as they say.
Here is their website information. I am not affliated with them in any way, just want to make sure i’m making a healthy choice if i go there to eat for lunch.
http://www.brynanddanes.com/story
I used to LOVE Panera, but dialed way back once I got a look at the calorie counts on the meals. That was enough for me. Not sure how any fast food place is going to serve sandwiches where the meats don’t have nitrates…it would require an effort and cost that would take them out of the “fast food” category…any idea if anyone has done this yet?
Hey, I just moved near a nuclear power plant and other bad dumping areas (had to for hubby’s work). I used to grow veggies but now I am
Afraid and also afraid of what is in stores. Any suggestions?
Can you give a few good healthy places (resturants, etc) to eat at? For date nights, etc.
I enjoyed reading this article very much. It was very informative. I would love to follow your page I would highly suggest that your administration do a better job screening replies. I don’t know if this Sammy is associated with you or not but I can not bring myself to follow this page because of the comments made by this person. Not everyone is in the same place healthwise if they are even aware they are eating unhealthy. The negative, one-sided replies I’ve read on here are shocking at best. Sadly, I feel they will deter those who trying to learn how to eat healthy and that defeats the point of this page. If you get these issues fixed, I will be happy to share your page with others.
Tricia, I had the same question. 🙁 Maybe it’s Food Babe’s desire to protect people’s freedom of speech rights? I don’t know, but the harsh, negative, uncompassionate, narrow-minded, insulting comments really detract from the purpose of following Food Babe 🙁
Thank you Food Babe for all of the research that you do and for presenting it to your readers to consider. No, we all cannot be in total control by cooking everything at home. Some people have more control than others, it’s just a fact of this life and culture. The more I understand, the easier it is to resist the poorer options. When I have to weigh options and make a choice, at least I have some hard info to use. If I choose to give in and have “bad” food, I can take responsibility for that choice and not lie to myself about it 🙂 As committed as I am to health for myself and my family, sometimes I get battle-weary. I feel compassion for those who want to do the right thing but hate reading health/nutrition information and become mind-boggled at all of the confusing information out there. We all have only 24 hours in each day. Most have careers, homes to maintain, people to love and spend time and energy on. Many of us also have school and spiritual activities to fit in, exercise to cram in somewhere, occasional social and recreational events. Anyone less than Superman/Superwoman can get discouraged and give up on trying to live the perfect life. It’s a jungle out there! The up side is that we are alive to face the battle 🙂 My vote is to support and encourage each other, not be judgmental and harsh toward each other! Most people who comment on this site are doing that. I thought that is what we are supposed to be on here for.
We love Panera Bread, that is where we stop when we are on the road. However my kiddos watched one day as they took and order of Mac & Cheese out of the frig and put it in the microwave, not a problem one might say, however it was in a plastic bag and when it came out of the microwave still in the nasty deformed plastic bag…they will never order mac & cheese from there again. We are all aware or should be aware that microwaving items in plastic (don’t care if they are rated for microwave use or not) isn’t good.
We are a family of 6 and love to travel, to answer a fellow’s snarky comments above we go out to eat way less than you do, I guarantee it!! So Panera’s was the choice when we had to stop for lunch on our 10 hour trip to visit friends or our 14 hour trip to visit family. So with that said, I guess I will be packing our own sandwiches and making our own trail mix for our trips…but that really isn’t too fun!!
Thanks for the heads up, it is appreciated.
If not panera bread then please suggest where should I eat?
I’m not sure why you took the time to condemn Panera specifically. The entire American food system is corrupt. If you want to avoid all of the ingredients you touched on, eat at home. I can’t think of a food establishment who only offers whole, organic, nonGMO foods…can you?
Ok, so just because there is a widespread problem, does that mean we should throw in the towel and accept it? No way, no one wins the war on the first shot, it is usually a long series of smaller battles won. Panera Bread just happened to be next up. Subway was another battle that was won, recently, again, not singling out Panera or Subway to the exclusion of everyone else…it was just their turn. And how is pointing info that is readily available at the restaurant condemning them? I hear condemnation for the GMO, and other ingredients that are bad for us. Stating facts (ingredients in products) in and of itself is value neutral. My opinion is that the food is full of ingredients I don’t want to put in my body so I won’t eat there. Doesn’t mean we cant reach out and try to educate these companies about what we would like to see changed. Squeaky wheel gets the grease ya know = )
You said that one of the ingredients in the meat is Nitrate. I saw no listing of nitrate anywhere in the list, except for Thiamine Mononitrate in the ham & swiss on rye. Thiamine Mononitrate, also known as Vitamin B1, is often added to foods to supplement nutrition. Flour manufacturers are required to add thiamin to white flour because the milling process strips the wheat of many nutrients.
While Thiamine Mononitrate does contribute nitrates to the body, the levels are so low they do not even pose a threat to the general population. It is actually considered to be a safe and beneficial ingredient.
Stop trying to scare people and do your research.
Thiamine Mononitrate is needed but is derived from soy and corn both strong GMO products. These can cause problems for some with allergies. It is hard to know which Thiamine Mononitrate companies are using in their products: either synthetic or soy/corn based. I have a soy allergy, trust me I can tell when I eat the soy/corn based. And it is difficult to find out. So there is reason to be concerned.
Hi Foodbabe. I just wanted to point out that the bread actually consists of UNBLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, if you read closely. Thanks for the article.
Thanks for all the info that you provide. It really has been eye opening and I m trying to eat better and cooking healthier meals for my family. My question is, what is a good place to eat when I want to go out with family or friends? I m vegetarian , not vegan. I no longer eat at Subway Panera etc. thanks!
I ate panera bread very little. The last time I had black bean soup from there., November 11, 2011. Drove a place to stop and eat 15 min later. I accidentally dropped the soup. It was so HOT burned my thigh. After several months and lawyers, panera offered no sympathy nor apologizes. The lawyers dropped. The soup was sooo hot that I almost got into almost third degree. I never ant back to eat. Glad I know what in these food that I don’t care for.
Are you serious? You tried to sue Panera because you dropped your soup! People wonder who clogs up the justice system with frivolous lawsuits. I guess I have my answer.
are you the lady years ago that sued mcdonald’s for spilling the hot coffee on her lap?? how ya doin’?
sorry lisa that comment was obviously for tina…..
After spending $$ and with the insurance, the insurance suggested me to get lawyers to sue. It was scalded HOT. At first, I called to tell them to low the heat of cooking hot. I heard several people complaining that it took a while to cool the soup because it burned the tongue.
I use to eat at Panera a lot thinking it was healthy. I had trouble with salt so watched what I was eating very closely. When I looked at the ingredients book I was shocked to see what was in their food. The sodium content is so over the top I could not eat anything there.
Damn..I love Panera. I guess I’m going to have to learn to make those things on my own.
You need Bryn and Dane’a if you want healthy ‘fast good’. Check them out!
My habit is to bring my own Corelle bowls to restaurants to take home left-overs and avoid the Styrofoam. When going to Panera, I think I should present my own glass bowl (in advance) and require them to remove the soup from the plastic bag and heat it in my bowl. This does not solve the quality of the soup; but, it makes a statement about not heating food in plastic bags. I do feel that consumers need to put pressure on Panera to improve the quality of their food as well.
I suggest all of you look into the circle of antibiotics before you claim ANYTHING is Organic. You do realize that for the term Organic to be use in the US, it just means they don’t inject animals with unnecessary antibiotics and they don’t use unneeded pesticides on crops.
The kicker in that is that any water tested near ANY organic farm or ranch will contain antibiotics. There is a reason why the CDC, just this last September, released a major superbug warning relating to food and a large report.
Also why is anyone taking health advice from someone who doesn’t even have a degree in anything science related? Most people don’t even realize table salt is made from a metal and an acid that will kill you when they aren’t together but the wonders of chemistry make it perfectly fine.
THANK YOU!!
Propylene Glycol has nothing to do with Anti-Freeze….its FDA approved and perfectly safe. (WIKI..Propylene glycol is considered generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and it is used as an humectant (E1520), solvent, and preservative in food and for tobacco products, as well as being one of the major ingredients of the liquid used in electronic cigarettes.) It has many uses so connecting it to anti-freeze is lazy.
Thousands of people willingly inhale it everyday and not one harmful affect in the last 7 years of its use as a vapor has been recorded.
Your birthday cake rant only further confirms ignorance.
Sure Panera has additives and substances…every single food brought to market does. At least Panera gives people a better option.
God damn I couldn’t live my life with your paranoia.
Its FAST food. I am not sure why people expect FAST food to be healthy. When I go out to eat I hear people asking for a healthy option, organic food, and Gluten Free. I am sorry but people you are in a FAST FOOD RESTAURANT. No the chicken that your eating is not range free it cost $6 for you entire meal. People claim they want to be healthy and eat healthy but order meals that have ALL of their daily calories in one meal. I do find myself on occasion eating out at places that are not healthy but I watch the calories. I realized that if I am going to eat at any place that calls themselves a FAST food restaurant then I have to look at the caloric intake. FAST food in general is not healthy.
The best example my friend and I took our kids for a treat. In our area when it is raining we have an awesome indoor playground at Carl’s Jr. I know, but its one f the only places to play on a tight budget and the kids were going stir crazy. We decided that we would buy them a cookie to share and let them play. The women at the next register said she is on a new “healthy diet” so she ordered a Taco Salad. The shell is 937 calories not to mention it is fried. Of course I couldn’t help myself I said “you know that the shell on the taco salad is almost 1000 calories. She smiled and said “oh, I don’t plan on eating the whole thing.” My point is people don’t want healthy they want to appear to eat healthy. They fill their extra large cup with Coke (I won’t even go there calorically) and then eat a “salad” with and ask for extra dressing (I won’t go there either).
Yo, Food Babe…looking at your pictures, and all of your postings, I wonder if you even eat at all!
This person seems to make the assumption that we don’t know how to read for ourselves. I love Panera Bread, I’m fully aware of the ups and downs of their menu, and none of this is going to keep me from eating where I choose. When compared to the other fast food giants, such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc, yes, this is most definitely one of the healthier choices. After eating an Asian Sesame salad and a piece of their bread, I don’t feel my arteries clogging the way I do after eating a Whopper and fries. My only complaint about Panera Bread is that their prices are a bit high, which keeps me from indulging in their deliciousness as often as I’d like.
I like good, real, healthy food as much as the next healthy person, but there are times when I do not feel like cooking. Panera Bread Pick 2 to the rescue!
If I were going to eat at Panera Bread, I would opt for something from their “hidden” menu….while still not perfect, there are healthier options there like the Power Mediterranean Roasted Turkey Salad. Nothing processed there and the turkey is antibiotic free, at least. If I were on the road and in a pinch…I think it’s a pretty healthy choice. Although, I have to say that I just don’t get the whole hidden menu concept!!!
I enjoy eating raw berries and nuts, just like the next hippie, health nut – but sometimes I enjoy biting into something a little tastier. Am I going to eat Panera on a daily basis? No – and It’s still healthier than McDonnalds (depending on how you define healthy.) In the end, thousands of things are going to give us cancer and kill us. I appreciate the heads up – but I am a little tired of all of this alarmist conjecture.
While I do agree with most everything in this post, I’d like to point out that Nitrates aren’t as bad as researches once believed. Several studies have been done to debunk the “nitrates are deadly” thoughts. Nitrates aren’t some artificial compounds unique to cured meats. Our bodies are loaded with them and the biggest dietary source is vegetables. Yes, vegetables are loaded with nitrates. Even our saliva contains massive amounts of them. These are compounds that are natural parts of human bodily processes. Here is a study done on nitrates by the National Institute of Health:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1552029/
Just my two cents on this issue…the big problem with nitrites is that they are artificial..in the “smoke flavoring”. I am getting tired of the attitude that if it exists in nature, then the manmade version just can’t be bad. And anything to approved by the FDA is suspect in my mind. They are quick to approve things that will make money for large companies, then they turn around and say “oops” this isn’t really good for you after all. The FDA may have started and an agency designed to protect us, but it has evolved into a political machine more than anything else. Bottom line, is the synthetic versions of things that exist in nature can and will harm us if we eat them a lot. And I can’t argue with the fact that several things I have eliminated from my diet (MSG, soy, gluten, refined sugars, high fructose corn syrup, anything GMO where possible, FLUORIDE) were detrimental to my health because once they were gone migraines dissipated, allergies backed down, bloating and tummy issues resolved among other things.
You ddnt bother to mention that they are one of the 1st in the industry to go completely antibiotic free for all their meats
They have been doing this for a decade and one of the 1st that started listing all nutrition facts. They also are involved in community and even hve some pay what you can restaurants
Great article, Food Babe! The ironic thing is that I was just at Panera Bread tonight and ordered the Pick 2 with the Med Veggie Sandwich and chicken noodle soup. To my absolute surprise and further disdain, I noticed the server opening a large plastic bag, steam pouring out, and pouring it into my bowl. I said, “whoooaaa, that’s how you store and prepare the soup? In a heated plastic bag that leeches BPA and plasticides into the soup”?? The people on line all agreed and seemed equally shocked. I couldn’t believe they would do such a thing, with all the information about BPA’s out there. Then, when I asked the server how they prepare their new “smoothies” thinking he would say they chop up fresh fruits or veggies and blend in a juicer/blender, he took out a half gallon plastic container from the fridge that had all the ingredients already blended, something they receive already packaged, like the soup. Again, shocked. I guess it is fast food, so why be surprised, I guess…
I get sick every time I eat bread or bagels from Panera.
I never get sick from bread or bagels from Whole Food.
I never get sick from bread in Europe.
Enough said?
foodbabe, can you please have monoglycerides (the new name for transfat) removed ? most panera pasteries and bread products contain in.