food label warnings

Writing on a steamy Saturday in the southern suburbs of Sydney. Currently covered in sweat after only doing a little tidying up around the house. Something I come across occasionally in my day to day are the warning labels on foods. If you are looking for bit of a laugh there are some great ones out there.

Firstly, let me start by saying (ironically as something of a warning) that some labels are both useful and very important for user welfare and health. Those relating to allergens are obviously important and it's great that they are clearly marked on the packaging. However, I read on an instant soup packet, that I came across in the supermarket a warning label in Bold print,  that said "Warning after heating soup will become hot". I am fairly sure that even prior to attending Culinary School I was able to work out that food items or any items actually, that I heated, would become hot. I do wonder what happens in the interactions between the Marketing department and the legal department at these companies.

Marketing Department says "Hey Legal Department, we've got a new soup coming out, any of that fancy legal stuff we need to put on the label? "
Legal Department replies "Do we have any allergens in the soup?"
Marketing "no, all good there"
Legal " well we can't just leave it blank, how will our customers know we have a legal department?"
Marketing "It is soup, when you heat it up it gets, ummm,  hot, maybe the customer might get burnt."
Legal "You're a genius, write that down"

Another one I found at work on a tin of tomato paste read this way " product may vary from image shown " Sounds pretty standard, right?

The picture on the label is of a whole tomato. Please tell me that no one thought that tomato paste looked like that giant tomato on the side of the tin.

We do live in a wonderful world don't we? It has occurred to me that the kind of person who requires a label to let them know that the soup will become hot after heating may not be able to read the label. I wonder if they could create an audible label for them, just to be on the safe side.
Anyway, it is time to kick on with the first day of my weekend, please let me know if you come across any labels that have made you chuckle or any cooking questions you would like to have answered. Until next time, happy cooking