OMG!! Steel's Cocktail Sauce - HIDDEN CARBS!?!? Help!
 

OH BOY!!! I think I just took a huge blow to my "clean" induction so far. I waited a week to get a bottle of Steel's Cocktail Sauce so I could try it with some shrimp. Everywhere you look it is advertised as "less than 2 grams of carbs per serving!" A serving is 4 Tbsp.

Check the page from their very own website with a nutrition label by CLICKING HERE!

So I pour out 4 tablespoons, get some boiled shrimp and enjoy. The stuff is truly "incredible" tasting. I loved it! While I'm eating, I am reading the label and it says:

Calories - 36
Total Carb - 1 gram
Fiber - .5 gram
Sugars (fructose) 1 gram (This confused me a little since the sugar and fiber equaled more than the lsited total carb.)
Fat - 0 gram
Protein - 1 gram

So, I decided to do the math and back out the carbs for the 4 Tbsp. serving via the established formula of: TC = 9f + 4p + 4c.

36 = (9 x 0) + (4 x 1) + 4c
36 = 4 + 4c
32 = 4c

CARBS = 8 Gram !?!?!?! WTH!?!?!?

Is this correct?!? Are these guys simply crazy with their claim of "less than 2 carbs per serving"?? I even ran this through the Hidden Carb Calculator listed on the right and "still" get 8 carbs!

If this is "really" 8 carbs versus 2 - just how in Sam Hill can they so proudly make their Low Carb claim and get away with this?

PLEASE, please, somebody put my mind at ease. Show me the error of my ways. Correct my math. Do ANYTHING, but don't tell me I just ingested 8 carbs thinking it was less than 2. GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....... (and this stuff tastes soooooo good!)

Thanks to all who reply!

JFF:(

Sorry, JFF...unless there is an error in the labeling, there are 8 grams of carb (calculated by the total calories, grams of carb, fat and protein) in what you just ate.
The only thing I can think of is that they included the Splenda in the total calorie count, which they should have if they used granular Splenda. If they used liquid Splenda, then there is something wrong with that label. Either the total calorie count is wrong or the total carb count is wrong.

Glad I read this post. I almost bought this 2 days ago. It's good to know before hand that's for sure.

I read someplace that if you were to eat any crustateous food and normally use cocktail sauce to not use it anymore to use a butter and garlic sauce. That is what I use. Just a thought. Thanks for the post.

Man...this steams me! So you agree with me Lisa N? I was secretly hoping that somehow I had bungled the calculation.

I am now sitting at 18 carbs today with dinner left to go. Guess I am eating "lite" tonight. LOL :)

This has bothered me so much that I have fired off an email to the company and asked them to explain how they arrive at those numbers on the label. I also pointed them towards this thread so they know that we are all eagerly anticipating their input.

We will see if we get any reply from them. Hopefully they can clear this up and put our minds at ease.

Now to figure out a "2 carb" dinner. Any ideas??

JFF:D

I would skip the sauce and stick to natural foods as much as possible anyway. I just love the taste of seafood on its own.

JFF

Good grief! I love this stuff, but have never looked for the 'hidden carbs' in it. I'm hoping you get some really good explanation for the discrepancy. Please let us know if you hear back from your e-mail.

Linda

How do you define "natural"?
 

Well, if you look at the label and "believe" the ingredient list, it seems "very" natural to me.

Ingredients:
Steel's sugar-free ketchup (tomato paste, water, onions, cider vinegar, inulin, kosher salt, cloves, cinnamon, mustard, celery seed, black pepper, cayenne pepper, sucraloseTM), lemon juice, horseradish, dill weed, sucraloseTM (Splendaâ brand sweetener), and salt.

Aside from the Splenda and the "inulin" (what the heck is that?) is seems to be a very "natural" concoction if you ask me.

This has been my first try at a "low-carb" product. Aside from this, I have followed a very strict and "clean" induction for my first 11 days.

And as far as why use this over butter and garlic? Because I like cocktail sauce. Thinking I had discovered a low carb version was an added incentive to give it a go. If it hadn't been advertised as "low- carb", this product would have NEVER entered my kitchen and I most likely would not have even had the shrimp.

Oh well...live and learn.

JFF:D

I too, am interested in hearing your response from Steel. I miss cocktail sauce!!!!! Have been making a mixture of mayo and horseradish. It's just not the same as cocktail sauce, but it does help, alittle.

How about meat (your choice) and some steamed buttered spinach? Spinach is high in fiber and therefore very low in carbs. :) Otherwise I wouldn't sweat going a couple of grams of carb over at dinner with veggies. I think most of us have been tricked by inaccurate labeling at one time or another. Me...I just learn from the experience and move on instead of stressing over it.
As for the cocktail sauce, do you have access to Keto Ketchup in your area? If so, you can make your own cocktail sauce by using the Keto Ketchup and then adding ground horshradish to it to taste; that's basically all cocktail sauce really is.
Don't forget...shellfish have some carbs as well. :rolleyes:

p.s. as to your 2 carb dinner. Sounds like protein only tonite. And water. (ha ha)

Listen, Eat a sensable meal tonite. Salad, veggie, meat. Tomorrow is another day and you have a lifetime of this way of eating to go. Just take it ONE DAY AT A TIME.

Here...I'm suffering from PMS today. Let me email them for you. Once I'm done with them they'll have that label changed by Monday..... ;)

Well, frankly, I'm not that worried about Steels. I make my own with Westbrae unsweetend un-Ketchup, add lemon joice and horseradish to taste, a dash of Worchestershire sauce, and it's great. Another good choice is sour cream and horseradish mustard mixed together which, odd as it sounds, is terrific with cold boiled shrimp.

I'm not even going to go check the label on my Steels Hoisin sauce. I've done as well as I need to be doing without sweating every single detail. Unless you are planning to have this seafood sauce every day, Justfor Fun, you'll probably be fine.

I don't mean to belittle the idea of keeping an eye out for carb creep, but for things you eat less than once a week, and in small amounts, don't lose your head if you have misinterpreted the label. Not worth anguishing over. JMO.

Kay

HAHAHA!! That really put a laugh in my belly! And it was ZERO carbs! :)

Seriously folks, I'm not sweating the fact that I may slightly go over "20 carbs" tonight with dinner (all good foods I assure you). I can deal with that. Besides, I have lost very well on Induction so far, so I can't complain about a one-day "hiccup".

The thing that really sticks in my craw is that I was misled. If it were only a 1 or 2 carb difference, maybe I wouldn't be so concerend.

But an 8 carb difference is another matter entirely. That equates to a 300% difference in carb grams than what they proclaim all over their bottle and the sites that sell their product. I find this unacceptable. I am lucky to have discovered the problem after eating this only once. What about all the people on this board that are eating this product and other Steel's products that have no idea? 8 grams is nearly half of the daily carb allowance for people on Induction. I made this post in the hope that others might benefit and also that we might get an explanation from Steel's

I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt hwoever and wait to see if they respond to me. It may simply be an inadvertent labeling error which they may need to correct. We will see what evolves.

And I still am not clear on how it can list Total carbs at 1, but show fiber at .5 and sugars at 1 carb. Last I checked 1 plus .5 equals 1.5, which is "more" than their Total carbs listed. Something ain't right and I hope to find out what it is.

JFF:D

Do you think they are counting the "O mg" of Fat as "almost one gram" which would add almost 9 Kcals? Then the 0.5 mg of fiber could be 2-4 cals.
Would this help? I know that lableing laws are freaky.I would just use a teensy bit of this if I wanted to have it w/ shrimp, but not 4 TBSP.