The juiciest segment by far of Dispatches: Myths About Your Five-a-Day (8pm, C4, 16 July) had dietician Sue crafting some coronary-inducing cookies made of sugar, fat and essence of evil.

She tossed in a handful of raisins - meaning each cookie counted as half a portion of fruit and veg, according to current guidelines. It was like a regulatory special of Man vs Food. In a few seconds she revealed how meaningless five-a-day claims are when taken in isolation. Drinking water is generally good too, but you still drown if you fall in a lake.

Unfortunately, there 20 minutes before that of Jane Moore stamping her pixie-boots about government squandering cash on the push - though the “millions” spent are dwarfed by some companies’ marketing budgets.

Yet her contention that the five-a-day message has been “hijacked” was hard to dispute. Hapless shoppers failed to spot the supposed veg in a microwave sausage and chips - onion gravy - while a boffin gave us an accidental laugh, warning that “consumers - even quite intelligent ones - are vulnerable to being misled”.

Moore seemed unsure whether to blame suppliers or the DH for a lack of backbone on labelling. health minister Anne Milton half-heartedly denied the nudge was a fudge, then threw her hands up claiming “there’s only so much we can do as a government”.

Certainly there’s no point having your five-a-day if you insist on guzzling your own body weight in salt too.

Sharp practice exists in the industry. But we could do with some sharper shoppers.

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