Trader Joe's Shoppers Are Pumped To Try Its New Poppy Seed Dressing

Trader Joe's fans are an excitable bunch. So when the non-affiliated Instagram account Trader Joe's List shared their discovery of the store's branded Organic Poppy Seed Salad Dressing earlier today, many exclamation marks were fired. It comes in a 12 fluid ounce bottle and costs £3.69. Trader Joe's List itself began the proceedings by writing, "This dressing is the PERFECT addition to your homemade coleslaw!" They went on to describe its taste as a tangy sweetness and to recommend pairing it with veganaise.

As of writing, the post has received a bit over 2,000 likes and a good amount of short bursts of enthusiasm with exclamation marks attached. "Just bought this today!!" one person wrote "Yum!!" "Thanks for sharing! Sounds yummy!" another agreed with an emoji licking its non-existent lips. A third version of this sentiment reads "I love it!!"

However, as excited as some Trader Joe's fans got over the Organic Poppy Seed Salad Dressing, not all were excited in a strictly positive sense. In fact, most weren't.

It appears that Trader Joe's shoppers have another reaction to the Organic Poppy Seed Dressing shared by Trader Joe's List on Instagram. The caption read, "I love that it is organic but the only downside is it does have canola oil!" Indeed. Organic canola oil is the first ingredient listed for the dressing with organic cane sugar coming in third after water. Several commenters agreed with the original poster's reaction to the dressing's main ingredient. One person wrote, "Canola oil NOOO." Other Instagrammers responded, "Why must they make this with canola oil," and, "Has canola oil and cane sugar no thanks." 

Canola oil seems to be a controversial ingredient, judging by these comments. "It's really disappointing that you promote food phobia and alarmism over ingredients that are actually quite safe," wrote one user that pushed back against the vitriol. The reasons for the general fear over canola oil are described by Healthy and Natural World: The ingredient is made from genetically modified rapeseed, has trans fats, and is a refined oil. Several of these points receive counterarguments from Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD in the nutritionist magazine Today's Dietitian. The GMO is for a protein that gets removed during the processing of canola oil and the amount of trans fats may be too low to be significant.