The American FDA is currently in the process of revamping their nutrional labeling of food products, in order to make these labels more useful and user-friendly.
Some of the key proposed changes:
· The number of calories will be in a larger font
· The amount of added sugar will
...
The American FDA is currently in the process of revamping their nutrional labeling of food products, in order to make these labels more useful and user-friendly.
Some of the key proposed changes:
· The number of calories will be in a larger font
· The amount of added sugar will be specified
· An increase in serving size, so that the calorie count per serving reflects the amount of food that people actually eat in one serving
While I like the first two changes, I take issue to the idea of increasing serving sizes on labels. (For example, they have suggested that ‘one serving’ of ice cream should now be one cup, rather than half a cup.) While I agree that it’s important that the calorie count reflects what people are actually eating, I feel that this sends out the wrong message, as people often use the suggested serving size on a label as an indicator of the serving size they should be eating. We know that portion sizes have grown by 300-400% over the last 30 years, to the point where the typical serving size is way oversized – to put these oversize portions on labels risks encouraging servings to be larger, rather than the size they actually should be.
I’m keen to hear feedback about this – please feel free to comment online (click on the little envelope at the end of this post) – for subscribers, click on the link in the title of your subscription email and it will take you there.
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