NOT SO INNOCENT

These ingredients may sound wholesome, but don’t be fooled

CARROT CONCENTRATE

This one won’t get you any closer to your five a day. It’s a yellow colouring – the kind that gives margarine its daffodil hue. Other offenders include ‘beetroot extract’ and ‘paprika extract’.

ROASTED BARLEY MALT EXTRACT Not fresh from the field, but a highly processed colouring and sweetening agent, often added to cereals to give them a toasted flavour and golden colour.

CULTURED CORN SYRUP

The word syrup gives it away, and the cultured part has nothing to do with visits to the Tate. It’s a highly processed ingredient made by fermenting corn with cultures to form bacteria-inhibiting acids and fermentation products.

RICE EXTRACT

It stands in for chemical emulsifiers such as E461 and E472e. It improves the water retention and freezer life of baked goods, and it’s added to low-fat products to make them taste more like the full-fat version.