Both butter and margarine are controlled under Food Standards Australia and must be no less than 80% fat. ‘Spread’ and ‘margarine spread’ are not ‘margarine’.
I couldn’t find any product labelled ‘margarine’ alone in the woolies list, they all seem to be called some kind of spread.
Unlike butter and margarine, spread is not a single product with a standard amount of fat, the typical figures are about 40-65%. Also many contain much more unsaturated fat than they have saturated. These are the reasons they get more stars than butter. Why do you say that spreads are not healthier than butter?
You seem to think that the amount of saturated fat in food is irrelevant to healthy eating. This is in contrast to the consensus of dieticians and public health authorities.
Actually, you are incorrect, there is now a growing belief that foods such as margarine or ‘spreads’ are not as healthy as butter. I’m guessing ‘spreads’ was introduced as a more attractive name than margarine but it is basically the same product. The fact is the less food is messed about with the better it is for you, I have never eaten, nor will, any low fat, reduced fat product. My cholesterol level is fine, as is my partner. Neither of us is young. We eat all full fat dairy, unhomogenised milk etc. and always have done. If people want a ‘spread’ it’s easy to make a much healthier alternative to whatever is in those tubs in the supermarket, just mix butter and olive oil.
I don’t really care what other people eat or believe but there are plenty of articles from respected sources on the evils of processed foods, including ‘spreads’.
Major baby food brands are not just promoting outright junk foods (such as ‘fruit’ jelly lollies) as nutritious, but loading ready-made meals for babies with vast amounts of sugar and very little in the way of nutrition. Is anything from these manufacturers safe food for babies?
This is from the UK, but the same would apply in Australia.
The study, funded by the Which? Fund, looked at 632 food products marketed towards babies and toddlers under three.
It found that 41% of main meals marketed for children had sugar levels that were too high and that 21% of ready-to-eat fruit products, cereals and meals were too watery and not providing adequate nutrition.
… The study also found that a quarter of the products analysed were so high in sugar they would require a sugar warning label on the front of the pack, in accordance with WHO guidelines. According to NHS guidelines, babies aged one should have no more than 10g of sugar per day, and no more than 14g per day for children aged two and three.
It isn’t any different in Australia, CHOICE has provided research and articles from at least 2016 that had identified the unhealthy amounts of sugar added to many baby and toddler food products. The article that started this topic in 2024 was about the inadequate quality of the foods as found in baby foods in Australian Supermarkets according to WHO standards, it seems that nothing much may have changed even now.
