Dolmio and Uncle Ben's firm Mars advises limit on products

Yes I have seen the Sky coverage and it is interesting Dolmio have decided on this sort of PR which obviously could damage the sales of their product.

I suppose Dolmio are trying to say hey, we are a responsible company and we are advising this but surely it will set people thinking and sales will drop.. A good thing , yes, but I will still use Dolmio as it is a favourite of ours. [badnanemoticon]

Just wondering why Dolmio can,t alter the recipe and make it a healthier sauce.

Don't they do a 'light' version anyway?

If they're going to go to these lengths then instead of warning us , cut down on the sugar. Problem solved.

Mind you how many of us have some form of pasta with Dolmio sauce every night anyway?

Or indeed ever!

I do occasionally but not often enough to concern myself about high sugar and salt content. I agree, that is easily remedied. reduce both- sorted.

Having read this I looked at label of a jar of Red Pesto I was just adding to a homemade sauce & it has 2g of sugar per 1/4 of a jar. That seems quite high & why does Pesto need sugar anyway!

Are Mars going to give the same warning about Mars bars? Come a long way from "A Mars a day...."

I think it's a nice idea, given that many of the products will be labelled "everyday". Good for them.

Labels would be easier to read if the sugar content was measured in teaspoons. This should be clearly displayed on the front of the product and not in tiny print somewhere on the back.

4.2g of sugar in a teaspoon isn't difficult to calculate if you are the kind of shopper who regularly reads labels but I suspect people who buy cook in sauces do so for convenience so the nutritional information is not relevant.

I only read labels if I'm buying a new product as I cook from scratch with mainly fresh ingredients so I got a shock a few weeks ago when I bought a small bottle of extra fiery ginger beer to make a chocolate gin cocktail (yum)

It contained NINE teaspoons of sugar

I've always felt bought sauces in jars are very sweet (cant stand sweet and sour anyway) and tomatoes are naturally sweet so don't need anymore sugar but I suppose they use it as a preservative. I am left wondering why they don't just change their recipes rather than putting a hazard warning on them.

merlotgran ginger beer is the worst soft drink for sugar, think it is to balance the fieriness (spelling doesn't look right).

Good job I nearly always have slimline tonic with gin then, Tizliz

I wonder if Mars will live to regret this advice. Remember Gerald Ratner saying his jewellery was a load of crap?

Although I do quite often buy ready meals when I CBA to cook, I rarely, if ever, buy pasta sauces. I always make my own.
One of my favourite ways to eat pasta is to cook a selection of veg with the pasta, then strain it and stir in a girt big dollop of low fat crème fraîche with some cooked chicken/tuna/salmon. Season with tarragon and add a generous splash of white wine.

Here's how to make a pasta sauce that takes no longer than opening a jar of dolmio:
- take one tin of tomatoes - you can get them very cheaply! - add a spoonful of pesto (they don't all have sugar in!) and a tiny bit of harissa paste. Heat and serve - bingo! If you are feeling very naughty you can add a spoonful of bouillon powder.

This will make their sales drop! why on earth did they announce it?

How difficult is it to make some healthy home-made tomatoe sauce and freeze it in portions? Really? Or Bolognese? And know what you put in it.

Truly not rocket science (sorry).

Another quick pasta sauce is a handful of cherry tomatoes squashed and softened in a little olive oil. When the tomatoes are soft stir in some ricotta. The sauce will be ready by the time the pasta is cooked.

I often add sugar to my tomato sauce because I have always been told that tomatoes need sugar because they are a fruit. But I would only add a bare teaspoonful to the quantity you get in a jar of sauce.

merlotgran would never mix it into my whisky (single malt deserves to be treated with respect)

I'm with you on the single malt, Tizliz

Cheapo Aldi scotch however........

Hope I am not reduced to it

Yes! I heard it on the radio this morning. So instead of telling the public not to eat it so often why don't they just reduce the high salt sugar and fat content.

It's one heck of an admission for one of the big food companies to make though.

I do use this type of sauce but usually Lloyd Grossman's however I don't know how the ingriedients compare with other brands. I do find Dolmio too highly herbed in flavour for my taste .

I have yet to taste an acceptable pesto out of a jar. No wonder if sugar is added plus not enough of the only four essential ingredients: leaves, nuts, Parmesan, and olive oil. Oh, and a little salt, which I usually forget to put in.

I agree with bags Re pesto. Make it yourself and I make a big batch of tomato sauce and freeze in portions. Easy.

An easy tomato sauce I make is 2 tins of plum tomatos.Chop them up into bite size chunks.(I know you can buy them already chopped but they are just like mush)Add a couple of shakes of salt and pepper and 1 spoonful of sugar per tin.Add whatever herbs you fancy and reduce it down.It's delicious and very easy to make.

As with all foods/drinks containing huge amounts of salt and sugar, for the life of me, I can't undertstand why all manufacturers don't gradually reduce the quantities. Ok, it would take some time to get there, but I feel sure that with a gradual reduction, the difference in taste would be unnoticeable. I find that most tinned foods are too sweet for my taste. I love baked beans, but oh, they are so sweet! yuk!