Taste Testings: Consumer Product Reviews

McCain Ultra Thin Crust Pizza from McCain Foods (Canada) offers pizza lovers great taste without the extra calories and crust. The 357-g pizzas are almost twice as thin as most leading thin-crust pizzas on the market, and range from 150 to 170 calories per quarter pizza, with less sodium and fat. They feature wholesome, recognizable ingredients, and do not contain artificial colours or flavours. Ultra Thin Crust Pizza are available in three varieties – Spinach & Provolone, Roasted Mushroom and Garlic, and Pollo. The new pizzas will appear in most major grocery chains this spring, and will retail for an average of $5.99 to $6.99 each.

Female, 40-something, computer specialist
Pollo. “The packaging is attractive, nice graphics and colours, and I like the easy-to-read instructions on the back. Another plus – the finished product actually looks like the picture on the box! It was quick to cook, and it looks delicious, with big chunks of chicken, tomatoes and red peppers. The cheese is very light, without sacrificing on flavour, so it also seems healthier than most frozen pizzas I’ve tried. The thin crust is amazing – very crispy and flavourful. Very fresh tasting too, as if it’s baked from scratch. This is going to be my choice for pizza at home from now on!”

Male, 40-something, appliance technician
Spinach & Provolone. “Really delicious. I love the thin crust and all that cheese. Health pizza that tastes great. Glad I found it.”

Male, 48, sales manager
Pollo. “The ingredients look plentiful rather than sparse (like many frozen pizzas). I really like the crust. In fact, this is probably one of the best thin crust pizzas I’ve ever had. A lot of them taste like cardboard, you know? This is very nice and light. Very good.”

Female, 34, writer
Roasted Mushroom and Garlic. “This pizza has lots of tasty toppings. It’s got a hearty mushroom flavour that I really enjoy, and was extremely garlicky – not too much for me, but it was pretty intense. The crust also has a great bite and nutty flavour. The only downside was that it tended to be a bit greasy. It didn’t slow me down though – I ate the whole thing myself!”

Female, 30-something, teacher
Spinach & Provolone. “I wouldn’t normally go for a spinach pizza, but in this case the spinach really added great flavour. I liked the thin crust – I normally go for thin crust over thick crust – but because I over cooked it a little bit the edges of the crust got really hard. The provolone has a lot of bite to it, which I like. What I didn’t like was the creaminess of it. Too much for me.”