Can I trust food labels?

kimmy.j

kimmy.j

New member
I apologize if this has already been covered. I tried to find my answer by using the search, but it didn't come up with obvious results so I quickly gave up.



I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to reading food labels. I'm just wondering how accurate those labels are....

If I eat a bag of frozen veggies and it says it contains "about 3 servings", I will just multiply the numbers by 3, of course, to figure out what I have eaten.

I do not have a food scale, nor do I plan on buying one any time soon. Is my method okay?

I read a sticky about measuring food with a scale instead of measuring cups which was very interesting to me....but I'm mostly asking about products that are labeled individually as opposed to say....a box of cereal or a tablespoon of peanut butter.

My other question is this-
If a bag of steamed frozen vegetables says 3 servings, these are the same servings they talk about when you think about the food pyramid, correct? This may seem like a *DUH* question, but I've always had confusing over how many "servings" of fruit I'm having when I eat one apple, or 20 grapes, or whatever.

I'm just trying to get a better grasp on portion sizes and whether I can really trust labels.

Help?
 
Food labels are regulated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). They control what is mandatory and what is not when it comes to food labels.

Both organizations verify the nutrition information that food companies put on their food labels through frequent testing of their food products. I'm not 100% positive, but I think that food companies actually have to have their products tested BEFORE they can even sell it, but don't quote me on that.

Anyway, yes...you can trust the food labels.
 
ChefChiTown said:
Food labels are regulated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). They control what is mandatory and what is not when it comes to food labels.

Both organizations verify the nutrition information that food companies put on their food labels through frequent testing of their food products. I'm not 100% positive, but I think that food companies actually have to have their products tested BEFORE they can even sell it, but don't quote me on that.

Anyway, yes...you can trust the food labels.
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Good lookin out Chef! I always wondered this info myself. :)
 
Actually, when it comes to trans fats, companies are allowed to put 0g for trans fats if it's about 0.5 grams or less. This means that you could be eating something that could turn out to have a lot of trans fats yet has been marketed as "trans fat free".

Aside from that, I don't see any problems with food labeling.
 
stancel said:
Actually, when it comes to trans fats, companies are allowed to put 0g for trans fats if it's about 0.5 grams or less. This means that you could be eating something that could turn out to have a lot of trans fats yet has been marketed as "trans fat free".

Aside from that, I don't see any problems with food labeling.
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There's a "margin of error" allowed with every single piece of information on a food label. The "margin of error" is so insignificant though that it doesn't make a difference.

For example (and not to gross anybody out), it is completely legal for companies to have a certain percentage of their food products to contain things like rat poop and hair. So...yeah!!!
 
Really depends on what you're looking for on the label.

Food additives are often disguised under "artificial flavouring" and they use so many terms for MSG that I have trouble keeping up :blush5:

I think you are pretty safe with portion size though.
 
ChefChiTown said:
There's a "margin of error" allowed with every single piece of information on a food label. The "margin of error" is so insignificant though that it doesn't make a difference.

For example (and not to gross anybody out), it is completely legal for companies to have a certain percentage of their food products to contain things like rat poop and hair. So...yeah!!!
Click to expand...

That's just awesome! I bet my breakfast had bits of rat poop and probably bugs in it as well!
 
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