Food Unwrapped (2012) s06e08 Episode Script

Let's go! 'Us Brits love our grub.
'And our shops and supermarkets are stacked high with 'food from all over the world.
' Whoa! 'But how do we really know about where our food comes from?' I've come to ask you how dangerous my nuts are.
'We'll be travelling far and wide' Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Look at how high up we are! '.
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to reveal the truth about the food we eat.
' Oh, my word! Whoa! 'Coming up, I find out where prunes come from' Wow, that's hot.
Hot! '.
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and if they really are good for backed-up bowels.
' Here we go.
I hope my mum's watching, she'll be so proud! Pop it in.
'I'm on a mission to reveal just how much sugar is hidden in those 'sweet cherry tomatoes.
' That's really sweet! 'And I learn how a Dutch farmer is 'growing potatoes in salty seawater.
'Yes, seawater.
' Till now, everybody thought that we can only grow plants with - fresh water.
- That's amazing.
'First up, prunes.
' On Food Unwrapped, we do a lot of travelling.
And it can play havoc with your digestive system.
But I want to find out if, actually, eating prunes can keep you regular.
Do you know what a prune starts its life off as? 'Erm, I'm not really great with food, to be honest.
' What is it? They're really nice.
'They're a kind of date.
' Have you ever heard of prunes helping move things along a little bit? Prune juice might be better, cos it'd pass through a bit quicker.
Yeah, I think you're right.
'I jet off to Agen in south-west France, 'a region famous for its prune production.
'Agen prunes are considered to be amongst the best in the business.
' - Bonjour! Je m'appelle Jimmy.
- Bonjour.
'Farm owner Jacques Latour has been producing prunes here all his life.
' - What's happening here, then? - Voila.
'Prunes, of course, begin life as a plum.
But not just any plum.
'They're specially cultivated to have more fibre and sugar 'and less water, making them easier to dehydrate.
'They dry out in these huge tunnel ovens at 80 degrees 'for almost a day.
' So the next time I see those plums, they're going to be prunes.
A-ha! Oh, my word! That is delicious! Why are prunes so good for your digestive system? It's the variety of plum that you use, and you dry them out.
That's why they contain so much fibre.
It won't make me Yes! 'So, prunes.
They come in a packet, as a juice and as a humble plum.
'But do they really make our bowels more efficient? 'Time to enlist the help of the Food Unwrapped guinea pigs.
' He-he-hey! - Now listen, Matt, I've got a little task for you to do.
- Really? I know, and it's common knowledge, that you get pretty backed up.
I want you to test something for me, right? - I want you to eat eight prunes a day.
- Right.
And I want you to record all the activity that happens afterwards.
'Matt's eating 100 grams, which is about eight prunes a day, 'as this is what the European Food Safety Authority 'advises in order to feel the effects.
' You're on the prunes, Kate's on the plums, I'm on the prune juice.
- All right, fine.
- Starting today.
'Keeping it in the same ball park, 'I've decided Kate's 100 grams comes in the form of two plums.
'And I'll be downing 100 millilitres of prune juice every day.
' - Will they make a difference? - We'll see.
I'll let you know.
'Later, I see fibre in action and get to grips with colon clearance.
' Here we go, look, it's going like a rocket.
'Next up, cherry tomatoes.
' - I've got a question about tomatoes.
- OK.
The salad tomatoes, it says that they contain 3.
1 grams of sugar per 100 gram.
- OK.
- The cherry tomatoes say that they contain exactly the same, and yet when you eat the cherry tomatoes, - they're so sweet! - Do they have more sugar in them than the big ones? I'm not too sure, to be honest.
Going on your labels, they must have the same amount of sugar in them.
Yeah, that's right.
It could just be because they're smaller.
Roughly, all tomatoes will contain the same amount of sugar.
I shouldn't witter about overdosing on sugar when I'm feasting on cherry tomatoes, because they've got the same amount - of sugar in them.
- Exactly, yeah.
So, all of these tomatoes of different sizes say that they contain exactly the same amount of sugar, 3.
1 grams per 100 grams.
But on some of these cherry tomatoes here, they're described as "intensely sweet" or "sweet little treats".
So do they taste sweeter than the other tomatoes? I'm going to put them to the test.
'These sweet little treats are a staple in our kids' packed 'lunches, so who better to do our taste test?' Do you like tomatoes? Yes! 'To make this test as balanced as possible, 'we've brought along three types of tomato.
' - Right, are you ready for a blindfold? - Yes.
- OK.
China first.
Pop it in.
'First up, beef tomatoes' Mm! '.
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followed by a salad variety' This is sweet! '.
and finally, cherry tomatoes on the vine.
' - That's really sweet! - Is it? Tomato for you Yeah, that one's nice.
'Now, this may not be the most scientifically valid test ever 'undertaken, but purely on a sweetness scale, 'none of these kids rated the big beef tomato, 'only two of them went with the medium-sized salad tomato 'and a whopping five out of seven ranked the smaller 'cherry on the vine as the sweetest.
' Most of you guys liked these best.
You thought they were the sweetest.
'So, do cherry tomatoes contain more sugar? 'How accurate are those labels? 'To find out for sure, we sent four different varieties of tomato 'from major supermarkets to have their sugar content measured.
'Coming up, we get the results and discover how 'the supermarkets' demand for sweetness 'has reached a new extreme.
' They're very sweet.
They like eating sweets, and that's the thing.
- That is sweet.
- That IS sweet.
'FUHQ tell me there's a vegetable farmer who might be about to 'start a world food revolution.
'So I'm off to Holland to meet this maverick who's defying 'centuries of wisdom by growing his veg using salt water.
' I'm here to find out whether or not you can actually grow vegetables in salt water and they'll still be tasty.
Revolving door here.
Got to be careful.
'I'm heading an hour north of Amsterdam to take a ferry to 'one of the Netherlands' northernmost islands, 'the island of Texel.
'Here, an enterprising farmer has decided not to fight 'the encroaching salty ocean but to embrace it.
' Hello! 'The man behind this radical idea is Mark van Rijsselberghe.
' Nice to meet you.
Now, Mark, you're doing something quite kind of revolutionary.
We are growing potatoes here, or lettuce or all kinds of vegetables, under salt conditions.
Till now, everybody thought that we can only grow plants - with fresh water.
- OK.
Can we go and have a look? - Yep.
- And up until recently, this hasn't been possible.
- No.
No, no.
- We found varieties who can grow there.
- That's amazing.
'Ten years ago, Mark teamed up with some scientists, 'and together they have screened hundreds of different 'vegetable species to find the few that are tolerant to salt water.
' - There are thousands of varieties of potatoes.
- Yeah.
So there probably is one who is completely suitable for salt conditions, and we tried to find them.
'Farming is by far the biggest use of fresh water the world over.
'It uses 70% of the world's resources.
'Mark is using a mixture of salt and fresh water to irrigate his crops.
'Amazingly, some veg tolerate a ratio of 50% seawater.
' - This is your lab, is that right? - It's an open-air lab.
So, we put in salt water on different levels in the soil and treat the plants with it and see if they start growing or if they stop growing.
We don't do any scientific research.
- Basically - They live or die.
- They live or die.
Yeah, as simple as that.
Right! 'Coming up, this incredible innovation 'could not only help solve world 'food shortages, but the taste is mind-blowing.
' That's one of the most delicious tomatoes I've ever eaten.
'And they don't actually taste salty, they taste sweet.
' 'I'm in the Netherlands investigating a new, 'exciting way to farm vegetables.
' Everybody thought that we could only grow plants with fresh water.
'Marc van Rijsselberghe has discovered species of veg 'that can grow using a combination of fresh and salt water 'and has seen particular success with potatoes.
' - So this is where you sort the potatoes? - Yes.
'Their produce is already being sold in major Dutch supermarkets 'and they're now being grown in the developing world.
' Half of it is going to Pakistan to help the people over there.
- The potatoes are? - The potatoes are, yeah, and they're growing them in saline conditions over there.
In Pakistan, we have six million hectares of land that is not fertile any more and we are growing our potatoes so that is a small miracle.
'Every day, 2,000 hectares of agricultural land 'becomes unusable because of salt damage, 'caused by flooding and irrigation 'and Central Asia is one of the worst affected areas.
'But now Marc is shipping his resilient potato plants to Pakistan, 'where they are thriving.
'So how did a Dutch potato farmer 'find himself on a crusade to feed the world?' I've grown potatoes for 20 years, a lot of them, and I'm not finding it very sexy.
So, the sexy element of potato growing is now in how you can feed others? - Yeah, how we can help them to get some proper food again.
- Right.
'But what I want to know 'is how does Marc's sexy seawater veg actually taste?' The interesting thing is if you grow potatoes in saline conditions, - they become sweeter.
- Was that a surprise to you? Yeah, even with tomatoes, even with strawberries, but lettuce, for instance, they get bitter.
- The salt water affects vegetables in different ways? - Yeah.
- Carrots get sweeter.
4% more sugar in carrots.
- 4%? - Yeah, yeah.
- Really? When veg is watered, plant roots usually soak up as much fresh water as possible.
But when salt water is used, the salt can draw fresh water out of the roots.
When salt pulls water out, it causes many crops to wither and die.
But some hardier varieties will fight back by raising the sugar levels until the concentration is higher than the surrounding salt water, drawing water in.
- It's sweet.
- It's much sweeter than the normal.
- But there's no trace of salt in there.
- No, no.
Every living organism is trying to get salt out cos salt is poisoning your system.
That's a tomato with half sea water.
Very thick skin, but that's one of the most delicious tomatoes I've ever eaten, actually.
So, before I met Marc, I was pretty sceptical about what they were claiming they could do, but now I've seen it in action, it's actually pretty amazing.
If he and his team can actually grow food using sea water, then they're well on the way to solving world hunger and that would be remarkable.
Back to prunes.
I just want to check in with the guys to see how they're getting on with my little challenge.
Now, Matt.
So I've been taking eight prunes roughly a day and I have to say, it's been quite enjoyable, it's been quite healthy, but it's had absolutely no effect.
Kate tells me you can usually set your watch by her bowel movements so after all these plums, she should never be off the loo.
No change down below whatsoever.
So, where is she on the official stool classification chart? I am between a three and a four every day.
Neither of them have been affected by the prunes or the plums and that's consistent with myself, with all the prune juice.
So, what is going on? 'To see if I can get some answers, 'I've come to King's College London to speak to a man of science.
' - Hi, there, you must be Professor Whelan.
- I am, that's right.
I'm Jimmy.
Nice to meet you.
'Professor Kevin Whelan is going to explain the true impact 'prunes have on our digestive system.
' We first need to understand what a stool is made up of.
So what we've got here is the different components of what's in our bowel and we're going to make some poo together.
- So it's a poo recipe? - It is, but it's not me making it, it's you.
'And here's how you can knock one up at home.
' - So the largest component of stool is made up of water.
- OK, in you go.
'Add a dollop of bilirubin, 'a liver product which gives our faeces its characteristic colour.
' There we go.
'Stir in a healthy portion of bacteria, 'which gives our faeces its pungent smell.
'To this, add fat.
'Finally, a pinch of salt and minerals.
' So, give it a good old stir.
Of course, there's one missing component that is really important and this is fibre.
But what I'd like you to think about is adding a little bit so this is what would happen in somebody - who doesn't have much fibre in their diet.
- Just a little bit of fibre? - Yeah, just add a little bit.
- A little bit first.
'And five minutes later, it's ready to go.
' The poo is looking very sloppy.
Why do you want it so loose? What I've arranged is for a model of a human intestine here.
This is actually the intestine from a pig.
What I'd like you to do is take some of your sloppy poo and put it through the pig's intestine.
I've done lots of weird things in my time.
Is that enough poo? I think that's about right.
What happens is the muscles that line the gut squeeze the stool along, like this, which is exactly what I'd like you to do with this.
The only problem is I'm going to time you.
- Are you ready? - Yes, please.
- Go.
Oh, it's quite difficult, isn't it? Oh, no, there's bits left behind.
Exactly, and this is the whole point, it's actually very difficult.
And they will just get left there and, over time, what will happen is the gut will absorb all the water from them and then leave big pellets of dried poo left in the gut.
I hope my mum is watching.
She would be so proud! Here we go.
- Three minutes 26.
- But look what's left in the intestine.
'Any remnants of this hard faeces left behind can cause constipation.
' So, this is the magic of prunes -- - that they contain very, very high amounts of fiver.
- A bit more fibre.
What that does is it increases the size of the stool.
But prunes contain something else as well.
They contain sorbitol and it also helps us to go to the toilet.
'Sorbitol enables a stool to absorb water, 'which helps it move through the body more easily.
' So, sorbitol, along with the other fibre, is the real secret of prunes helping us shift our poo.
That's right, they are the magic ingredient.
So, give that a mix.
Oh, wow! - Really thickening up, isn't it? - It is.
- Shall we try and push this poo through? - Let's try.
I'll start timing you.
Go.
There we go.
Look at it, it's going like a rocket.
And you can also see there's much less left behind.
MUCH less left behind.
- There we go.
- One minute 35.
- So, having prunes really does help.
There are another number of studies which have shown the beneficial effects of prunes in helping people go to the toilet.
'I now realise I put Kate on the wrong plums.
'The less fibrous supermarket ones aren't used to make prunes.
'No wonder her toilet habits haven't changed.
' But what about, then, the prune juice? Well, the amount of sorbitol in there is exactly the same as that of sorbitol in the plums and in the prunes, but what there isn't, because it's juiced, there is much less fibre in there.
How much would I have to drink to get the same amount of fibre? You'd have to have this amount of prune juice.
There's 60 litres here.
So I'd have to drink this amount of juice to get the same amount of fibre as that bowl of prunes? - That's right.
- Well, I'll stick with the prunes.
'So, what about Matt? 'His bowels should be as loose as a goose by now.
' I didn't really feel any effects until about now.
I'm just walking through an airport and here I am, on the toilet, because I think my seven days' worth of prunes are starting to take effect.
Try that one.
'Earlier, I set off on a mission to find out how much sugar 'is really in cherry tomatoes.
' - Was that your favourite? - Yeah, that one was nice.
'We've sent four varieties of tomato from the major supermarkets 'to have their sugar content measured.
'While we wait for the results, I want to know why 'there are so many sweeter varieties on the shelves.
' - Hi, Graham! - Hello, Kate, how are you? - Yeah, I'm good, I'm good.
Pleased to meet you.
'Graham Cousins is a tomato importer 'who supplies the major supermarkets.
' So, Graham, why are our tomatoes getting sweeter? Because what we've got now, we've got a demand for the traditional tomato taste to come back.
Where we'd lost it about 25 years ago, producing a Daniela-style tomato, something like this, cos they wanted this type of tomato to last and stay on our shelves for a long time, but sometimes there's no flavour any more in your tomatoes so consumers are looking for the tomato to get its taste back.
And when you say flavour, are you talking about sweetness specifically? Yes, we call it the Brix, and Brix is the sugar content.
'Brix is a measurement of sugar in a liquid.
'One Brix is the equivalent of 1g of sugar 'in every 100g of solution.
' - Do supermarkets ask you for a certain Brix level? - They do.
With the round tomatoes, we were told at one point that we needed a minimum of five and that's quite high on a round tomato, but when you're looking at the specialities, the levels need to be higher.
What kind of levels are they asking for? Well, you've got levels up to between ten and 13, - so very sweet.
- Ten and 13! - Yeah, they're very sweet.
They're like eating sweets and that's the thing.
- That is sweet.
- That is sweet.
So the supermarkets are demanding tomatoes with a higher sugar level, but why aren't they detailing those high levels on the back of the packs? All of these tomatoes detail on their labels that they contain around 3.
1g of sugar per 100g.
Now, the supermarkets are allowed a leeway of 2g so they can have up to 5.
1g of sugar and still make this claim on the packet.
Of the different varieties we tested, some were spot on and most were under this limit.
But when it comes to cherry tomatoes on the vine, it's a whole different story.
Of all the cherry tomatoes on the vine we tested, all of them contained more sugar than is stated on the label and when it comes to these four here, they were over the 5.
1 limit.
These Co-op ones contained 5.
3.
Both Sainsbury's and Aldi's contained 5.
4 and the Marks & Spencer's ones contained 5.
5g of sugar per 100g.
These supermarkets are in breach of EU labelling regulations and I think they're misleading.
So, we approached the supermarkets to see what they have to say.
Marks & Spencer tell us they pick naturally sweet tomatoes, which their customers enjoy.
While Co-op, Sainsbury's and Aldi say because the nutritional levels of fruit and vegetables vary with growing conditions, maturity and the seasons, supermarkets use average values on packaging, which come from an industry standard book.
Sainsbury's say their figures are representative of the UK market, while the other three point out that supermarkets provide nutritional data on fresh produce on a voluntary basis.
Legally, there is no present requirement to provide nutritional information on fresh fruit and veg.
Aldi go on to say they don't believe our findings are representative as we only tested one punnet.
They say they take accuracy on labelling very seriously and would never intentionally mislead customers.
Now, I'm not saying for a second that parents should stop feeding their kids cherry tomatoes.
They're packed full of good stuff and loads of kids prefer to eat these little sweet ones.
But I do think that supermarkets should be more accurate with their labelling, allowing us to make more informed decisions about the amount of sugar that we're eating.
'Next time, the days of wrestling the meat 'out of a crustacean could be a thing of the past.
' I've never seen anything quite like it.
'I look at the age-old parenting problem -- the fussy eater -- 'and learn the tricks to get the munching their greens.
' I'm really shocked that she's eaten the entire bowl.
'And I go behind-the-scenes' What's that? '.
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into the world of gummy sweets.
' I'm sure they'll be thrilled.
One day, maybe I'll get presents.