Truth in Labeling

I’m thinking of suing someone for false labeling.

The other night we ordered Chinese takeout. As usual, after spooning some brown rice onto my plate, I reached for a packet of soy sauce. For some reason, I began to read the ingredients listed on the packet. I knew from past experience that ingredients are listed in descending order. This particular packet listed a total of six ingredients: water, salt, vegetable protein, corn syrup, caramel color and 1/10 of 1% sodium benzoate.

Buy wait! Where was the soy?

It turns out there is no soy in American made packets of “soy” sauce.

Just to make sure I wasn’t missing something, I went to the refrigerator and located a bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce. Sure enough, the ingredient label read: water, wheat, soy beans, salt, less than 0.10% sodium benzoate as a preservative.

So, should I sue the Chinese takeout restaurant or the American manufacturer of “soy” sauce for false labeling? Or should I just shut up and eat?

Either way, I’ll probably be hungry about an hour later.