Yuck!
Most of the time, I use Ronzoni Healthy Harvest whole wheat pasta, but sometimes you just want something that tastes like good old fashioned white pasta, so I also keep Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta in the pantry.
I just finished off a box, and glanced at the ingredients list before I tossed it into recycling. What? Something is very wrong here! BHA & BHT along with Fractionated Coconut Oil?? I know I would never have purchased a product with those kind of ingredients! What happened?
I looked at another box, and those ingredients were not listed! The only difference between both boxes was it was now listing “Now With Vitamin D” – so to include Vitamin D, they have to also add icky toxic preservatives and Fractionated Coconut Oil*?! Not happy Ronzoni!
The reason I am not happy about “fractionated” coconut oil is because it’s refined with heat, not cold pressed. I like coconut oil, but it’s gotta be extra virgin for me to consume it!
Here is a full list of both the old and new versions:
Older without Vitamin D:
Semolina (Wheat), Durum Flour (Wheat), Modified Wheat Starch, Calcium Phosphate, Niacin, Iron (Ferrous Sulfate), Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid
New with added Vitamin D (highlighted bold text signifies a new ingredient)
Semolina (Wheat), Durum Flour (Wheat), Modified Wheat Starch, Dicalcium Phosphate, Niacin, Iron (Ferrous Sulfate), Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Food Starch Modified, Vitamin D3, BHA & BHT perservatives, Fractionated Coconut Oil
Out of protest, I will not be purchasing ANY Ronzoni products! It’s sneaky and deceitful how they dramatically changed the product like that! Once the cupboard needs a pasta refill, I will switch to a more reputable brand!
Note: Their parent company is New World Pasta
Brands include Healthy Harvest®, Ronzoni®, Smart Choice®, San Giorgio®, Creamette®, American Beauty®, Skinner®, Prince®, Catelli® and Lancia®.
In 2006, the Company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ebro Puleva, S.A., one of the world’s leading food companies. Ebro Puleva’s other subsidiary in the United States, Riviana Foods Inc., has such well-known brands as Mahatma®, Carolina®, Success®, Minute® and Gourmet House®.
So, needless to say, I will also be staying away from their other products as well, not that I buy any of them now, but I surely won’t in the future!
Ronzoni stinks! :P Blah!
UPDATE May 12, 2010:
I happened to be at the grocery store the other day, and I noticed the Smart Taste pasta. I was curious, so I took a look at the ingredients again.
Wow! No more BHA & BHT perservatives, Fractionated Coconut Oil. Amazing!
I still don’t trust them, since they added these ingredients in the first place without warning, so I am still staying away from their products. They really never should have added these bad ingredients, but it’s nice to see them taking them out of their pasta!


