Sneaky Stuff: Mott’s Applesauce Has High Fructose Corn Syrup

Written by:

Maia James

07/03/2014

Updated: 09/29/2023

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Hungry for some arsenic-laced apples from China, mixed with high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors? Look no further than Mott’s!

The pear variety has artificial colors, sugar, AND high fructose corn syrup.

At a recent birthday party for a 5-year-old, my own 4-year-old ate three slices of the pizza being served, and turned up his nose at the cup of Mott’s applesauce at his place setting. I grabbed a spoon and started to peel off the tinfoil lid so I could feed it to my baby, thinking “sure, it’s not organic, but it’ll do.” Then I glanced at the ingredients list–which I hope you can see in this picture to the right. Mott’s original applesauce contains apples, naturally, and then also….high fructose corn syrup.

In all my years of sleuthing, how have I never uncovered this sneakiest of the Sneaky Stuff?! With a bit more digging I found out that:

  1. If you want Mott’s applesauce without added sugar, Mott’s Natural applesauce is the one to get. Mott’s Original Applesauce, as I discovered, has added high fructose corn syrup. (The naming here is odd, since the original applesauce made by Mott’s couldn’t possibly have had corn syrup, since back in 1842 there was no such thing.)
  2. Some of Mott’s flavored applesauces contain artificial colors. (The pear-flavored applesauce contains sugar, HFCS, and artificial blue coloring, for instance.)
  3. The Original Applesauce in the Snack and Go pouch (which are often used as baby food!) also contain HFCS. The mango-peach pouch has artificial colors.

This popular food for babies and toddlers contains high fructose corn syrup, too.

This popular food for babies and toddlers contains high fructose corn syrup, too.

Before leaving the party, I picked up my son’s deflated juice box—which had contained Mott’s apple juice. Although this was 100% juice (from concentrate, obviously), it specified that the apples used to make the juice were grown in China. And of course, we know that apples coming from China have been shown to have dangerous levels of carcinogenic arsenic.

Bottom line: Mott’s is super sneaky and you shouldn’t support this company (which is owned by soda giant Dr. Pepper Snapple Company, by the way). In a pinch, the Natural Applesauce is okay.

Stay sane,

Maia, Founder & CEO

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Leave a Reply

  1. Emma Avatar
    Emma

    Applesauce and apple juice are well know to come from China and other suppliers round the world when we grow apples right here in the US. Besides it’s pure glucose. Diabetes anyone?Might as well give your kids a few tsps of pure cane sugar instead. That goes for babyfood too. Good luck getting a country of original on THAT. Make you own!!! If your too busy to cook up some US produce like squash and blend it, then quit your job. Feed your child small bits of REAL apple not the imported poison and arsenic from Chinese apples in plastic containers.
    Most adult diseases start their cycle by what we feed our children when very young. Breastfeed as long as possible. Express and freeze and put it in a bottle if Mum can’t always be there so Dad can bottle feed it. Some parents are so busy, they couldn’t care less about all this, throw their babies in daycare for 50 hours a week, and it makes me wonder why they had kids to begin with.

  2. Honcho Avatar
    Honcho

    Do they put the peelings in the apple sauce

  3. ann Avatar
    ann

    Give me a break. This has never been news to anybody. Why do you think many mothers choose the unsweetened applesauce? I am in my 50’s, and I have known that Mott’s was sweetened for since I could read. As for those pouches, all one has to do is try some food from them to know they can’t be good for anyone. They make food taste the way air from a mylar balloon smells.

  4. nobody Avatar
    nobody

    Good at giving people diabetes, yum indeed.

  5. Giggler Avatar
    Giggler

    It’s so good! YUM!