Do you buy regular or lightly salted peanuts? A new viral video may make you reconsider which variety of Planters peanuts ends up in your grocery cart.
Vanessa Stevs (@ness.stevs) a physician assistant student, posted a video of her mom comparing Planters Peanuts to her TikTok account this week.
The video has her viewers rechecking their food labels.
It now has over 813,300 views and seems on its way to hitting a million.
What do the Planters labels say?
Stevs’ mother appears in a video captioned, “My mom has a PSA for y’all to check your food labels!!”
In it, she grabs a container of Planters Salted peanuts from a grocery store shelf.
“Watch and learn,” she says. “Look at that,” she exclaims as she displays the ingredient list.
The ingredients listed on the container are, “sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup, honey, peanut oil, fructose, dried red chili peppers, natural flavor, paprika extract (color), and xanthan gum.”
She then shows a container of Planters Lightly Salted Peanuts.
“Peanuts. Sea salt,” she reads, listing the only two ingredients on the package. “This goes in the cart.”
What Planters says
According to Planters’ website, its Lightly Salted Peanuts are “dry roasted without oil” and “seasoned with a touch of sea salt.”
The site states that the snack “Contains 50% less sodium than PLANTERS® Dry Roasted Peanuts.”
Then why all the extra ingredients in the regular brand?
Natural nut brand Nuturally’s website states, “To recover the organoleptic characteristics that are generally lost during industrial processes, companies add salt, sugar, and fat to their products to make them tastier and more popular with consumers.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Planters via email for a statement.
A representative of Planters parent company, Hormel, sent the following via email:
“As the makers of the PLANTERS® brand, we offer a broad portfolio of products to provide options that fit a variety of consumer preferences and lifestyles. The difference between the two products highlighted in the video comes down to flavor and ingredient choices. Our PLANTERS® Salted Dry Roasted Peanuts are made with additional spices and ingredients to enhance flavor and ensure that the flavor stays evenly distributed and attached to the nuts. We’re committed to giving consumers the choices they want.”
Are Peanuts good for you?
Although peanuts don’t have a reputation as a superfood they are fairly healthy.
According to Eating Well, peanuts contain healthy antioxidants, aid in weight loss, and may balance blood sugar.
“A 2021 review of studies in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating peanut butter specifically was inversely associated with developing Type 2 diabetes.”
A 2022 study by the University of South Australia found “that eating 35 grams of lightly salted dry-roasted peanuts before two main meals each day can contribute to weight loss, lower blood pressure, and improved fasting glucose levels.”
Viewers weigh in on lightly salted peanuts
Some viewers were shocked by the differences between the labels.
“Why though?! That’s ridiculous,” asked Kasey Plumer (@kaseyplumer).
“I think people just want what it says upfront. They didn’t ask for sugar and corn syrup peanuts. They just wanted some salt,” another viewer wrote.
Another viewer noted the importance of always checking food labels. “This is with everything. Takes me 5 min reading every prod with every brand nothing high fructose etc.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Stevs via email and TikTok messenger for further comment.
@ness.stevs My mom has a PSA for y’all to check your food labels!! 🥜 #peanuts #healthyliving #foodswaps #seedoils #cleanfood #foodlabels ♬ original sound – ness.stevs
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