My daughter Minju has a peanut allergy. So, my wife and I are used to reading labels to avoid products with peanuts. But over the last month, all of America has come to fear and avoid peanuts as nine people have died and almost 700 have been sickened by salmonella contamination that led to recalls of almost 3,000 different food products.

The peanut scandal follows closely on the heels of several other food safety crises: melamine recently showed up in baby formula, E. coli was found in bagged spinach, and an outbreak of salmonella occurred in chili peppers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year an estimated 76 million people in the U.S. contract a food borne illness, leading to 5,000 deaths.

Even if we can avoid these contamination outbreaks, there is a range of other serious issues to worry about with food. And this is true of many consumer products. It’s often impossible to differentiate packaging claims from the true health and safety of products without a team of scientists to test what’s behind the label. That is why I founded GoodGuide, a for-benefit company that examines the health, social, and environmental impacts of consumer products.

This week, GoodGuide launched food product ratings. The food industry makes it difficult for us to make informed choices between products, and government regulation does not require the disclosure of many basic facts about the things we eat. So, the GoodGuide team has been working to analyze and compare overall nutrition, health impacts, environmental impacts, and social performance of food products and food manufacturers.

I think of myself as a fairly knowledgeable, healthy eater. But I was shocked when we began our research on food products and found out what’s actually in the food my family eats. It turns out that when I pack my daughter’s “healthy” afternoon snack of a juice box and a fruit snack, I’m really feeding her two desserts filled with high fructose corn syrup, added sugars, and artificial colors that are not allowed in other countries. Some juices have more sugar than a can of soda!

Here are some surprising facts from our study of thousands of products served to children across America:
• 88% of juices exceed a recommended sugar threshold, and 23% contain high fructose corn syrup.
• More than 75% of white bread products contain high fructose corn syrup.
• 44% of milk products contain added sugar.
• 14% of yogurts exceed a recommended sugar threshold, 26% contain high fructose corn syrup, and one-quarter contain artificial colors that are under review to be banned in the U.K. and the U.S.
• Some popular baby foods sold in the U.S. contain FD&C Red 4, which is not allowed in food in the European Union, Australia, or the United States.
• 13% of baby juices contain ingredients that are not allowed in food in the European Union.
• 28% of crackers and 11% of cold cereals contain hydrogenated oils or trans fat.
• 75% of fruit snacks contain added colors.

You can get some help choosing safe, healthy, and green products by searching or browsing over 60,000 food, personal care, household chemical, and toy products at GoodGuide.