What’s in your food? Investigating meal-prep companies

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Let's face it, cooking every day can be a hassle, so it's no surprise millions of Americans use meal-prep companies to save time.

Many of those companies market their meals as healthy, clean, or dietician-approved.

However, FOX19 NOW's Courtney King found out that some of the companies are not directly listing all of the ingredients used in those meals. Some of those ingredients can potentially cause health problems.

Here is a statement from an FDA spokesperson to keep in mind as you read this story:

"All packaged foods must meet FDA's food labeling requirements, including declaration of ingredients, which must be listed by their common or usual name. When an ingredient itself contains two or more ingredients, the sub-ingredients must also be declared on the product label and labeling. All labeling must be truthful and not misleading."

Registered dietician and functional medicine expert Preeti Bansal Kshirsagar says, "So, we as consumers, we need to make the right choice, and we need to demand this from the company, saying we are not going to buy products with all these additives, right?"

Ponder this question, do you really know what's in your food and do you trust what companies say they're putting in it?

"Why do we have all these additives? That's the question," says Kshirsagar. "You could you should just have plain chicken here."

King investigated two meal prep companies for the last few weeks and found that one company's meals contain dozens more ingredients than what is listed on the labels.

We bought several meals from Clean Eatz in Newport, Kentucky.

King walked in and grabbed a few meals from their grab-and-go freezer.

"This one on the packaging says the ingredients are shredded beef, seasoned red potatoes, and green beans," King shows as she reads the ingredients.

The packaging listed only a few ingredients, but the website listed almost a paragraph more.

Factor is a well-known meal prep company and King placed an order through them online for this story.

On their website, basic ingredients like pork, cauliflower, and onions are listed as ingredients for the ordered meals.

When we got the meals exactly seven days after placing the order with Factor, we noticed the ingredients on the packaging were entirely different.

After reaching out to Factor, a spokesperson showed us you can find all of the ingredients online. They are not listed with the original ingredients, you have to click " read more " on Factor's website.

So, what are the ingredients?

We noticed xanthan gum was used by both Factor and Clean Eatz in every meal, but one we bought.

"Xanthan gum is a fibrous substance," explains Kshirsagar. "It gives thickness, it stabilizes. It also kind of acts as a preservative for the food that that the companies are making."

Kshirsagar, when asked to break down xanthan gum, says it can cause some health issues.

"Xanthan gum is a fibrous substance. It gives thickness, it stabilizes. It also kind of acts as a preservative for the food that that the companies are making."

She went on to say, "These digestive imbalances can actually then reflect a systemic change, issues like migraine, in your particular case, other people can have joint issues. Other people can have, you know, dental issues. It can cause many different issues as they migrate from the gut to different parts of the body."

If you have not heard of it, it is used in a lot of gluten-free baking and salad dressing.

"The ways in which maltodextrin affects us most is it, again, imbalances the gut microbiome," Kshirsagar says.

The dietician says maltodextrin can also cause health issues. It is also used as a thickener and stabilizer. It was found in the Clean Eatz meals, but not in Factor's.

"It reduces the good bacteria in our gut, and it can actually cause growth of bad bacteria like salmonella or E. coli," explained Kshirsagar. "So, that's a big negative, possible negative effect of maltodextrin for an individual. Again, doesn't happen for everybody, but it can happen for many people."

Both the companies we looked into market their meals as clean or healthy eating, Factor's meals even say dietician approved.

When asked if maltodextrin and Xanthan gum are clean ingredients, Kshirsagar responded:

"I would certainly not say that. I certainly don't have them in my kitchen, and you can always cook without them. Why do you need maltodextrin or Xanthan gum or any of these stabilizers? Because it is actually very much possible for the companies to make these products without the additives and still make them taste good and have them be healthy for us."

Kshirsagar says excessive usage of Calcium propionate, which is used to keep food from molding, can cause digestive issues.

She also says companies use these additives for flavor in premade meals because they are cheap.

"And there is so much advancement in packaging now there is so much possible if we as consumers demand for it."

FOX19 NOW also emailed with Clean Eatz in Newport.

The store owner said the grab-and-go meals are different than the meals you can order online, even though many have the same name.

However, he stopped responding to emails when asked if they put more ingredients in the grab-and-go meals than what is listed.

In the emails, the Clean Eatz owner said, "We follow all local, state, and federal menu labeling requirements and offer additional ingredient information on our website."

Factor also said in their email that they list out the ingredients in their most complete form. This allows individuals to swiftly determine if a recipe meets their dietary preferences.

The FDA did not comment on the examples sent for this story and declined an interview.