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I have been saying over and over that you need to read and watch those nutrition labels carefully. It doesn't matter how long you have been doing LoSo, watching calories, fats, carbs, etc. those pesky nutrition labels will still surprise you. The biggest surprise I got was tomato paste labels. I know, what could be all that surprising about tomato paste? But this one really got to me. Check out the table below. Can you see what is off here?
| Product | Sodium (mg) | Kashrut Certification |
|---|---|---|
| Hunt's No Salt Added Tomato Paste | 25 |  |
| Tuttorosso Tomato Paste | 15 |  |
| Nature's Promise | 20 |  |
| Stop & Shop Tomato Paste | 20 | |
| Hunt's Tomato Paste | 15 | |
| Tuscanini Tomato Paste (Tube) | 70 | |
| Mutti Double Concentrated Tomato Paste | 60 |  |
| Mutti Concentrated Tomato Paste | 110 | |
| Pomi Double Concentrated Organic Tomato Paste | 50 |  |
| Redpack Tomato Paste | 15 | |
| 365 Whole Foods Organic Tomato Paste with No Salt Added | 20 | |
| Muri Glen Organic Tomato Paste | 35 | |
By now you should see it. Hunt's Regular Tomato Paste has lower sodium than Hunt's No Salt Added Tomato Paste. What??? Not only that, but the Hunt's No Salt Added Tomato Paste is pretty far down the list. With the exception of the Double Concentrated products and Toscanini, it has the highest sodium level out of all the options!
Now, none of the lower sodium options are all that high. I mean the difference between 15, 20 or 25 mg of sodium is negligible. In the grand scheme of things it likely doesn't matter all that much. But I still don't understand how the No Salt Added version is HIGHER than the regular version of Hunt's Tomato Sauce. Frankly, how it is even the same, and not significantly lower?
The pricing is at least the same. A 6 oz can of Hunt's Tomato Paste at Stop & Shop is priced at $0.95. The No Salt Added version is also $0.95 per can.
If you are tired of the mislabeling, you can always try to make your own! I haven't tried this myself. I am not sure how it would taste without the salt in the recipe, but it could be worth a shot. Truly, if you have nothing else to do. Can anyone say Corona Lockdown Activity? It could be a double win. You can find a nice outdoor activity of tomato picking. That way you have the 10 pounds of tomatoes that you need for the recipe. Then you have the indoor all day activity of preparing it.
Of course, if you want other tomato based sauces, we have plenty of low sodium options straight from a jar.
I have no idea why the sodium levels are off with Hunt's Tomato Paste and Hunt's No Salt Added Tomato Paste. But the point is that you really do need to check nutrition labels -- even when it says NO SALT ADDED.