The Skinny On Food Labels

Ok, so we have all been at the store and seen all the low calorie, low fat, low cholesterol, light, sugar free packaging at the store.  What does this all mean?

I found this neat article on a website tonight at http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/food-label-terms-defined.htm and I thought I'd share a few thoughts on this....

Let's start with the definitions:

"Reduced," as in Reduced Sugar, Reduced Fat, Reduced Calories, Reduced Sodium, et al: Contains at least 25 percent less of the named offender than the regular version.

No Added Sugar: No sugars were added during processing.

Sugar Free: Contains fewer than 0.5 grams per serving.

Low Calorie: Contains 40 or fewer calories per serving. 

Calorie Free or No Calories: Contains fewer than 5 calories per serving.

Light or Lite: Contains one-third fewer calories than the regular version, or less than 50 percent fat per serving.

Low Fat: Contains 3 grams or less fat per serving.

Fat Free: Contains fewer than 0.5 grams per serving.

% Fat Free: Based on the amount, by weight, of fat in 100 grams of the food. For example, a 100-gram serving of a food that is "97% Fat Free" would contain 3 grams of fat.

Low Cholesterol: Contains 20 mg or less cholesterol and 2 grams or less saturated fat per serving.

Cholesterol Free: Contains fewer than 2 mg of cholesterol and 2 grams or less of saturated fat per serving.

High Fiber: Contains 5 grams or more fiber and 3 grams or less fat per serving.

Good Source of Fiber: Contains 2.5 to 4.9 grams fiber per serving.

More Fiber or Added Fiber: Contains at least 2.5 grams more fiber per serving than the reference food.

Now for the Kicker

In the US, there is NO standardization for the definition of a Serving Size.

Why does this matter?  All of the food labels, regardless of the  manufacturer base their nutritional information on a serving size.

For Example, if a product is labeled as Fat free, it may not necessarily have less calories in it than its full-fat counterpart or a comparable product.

I was shopping the other day at Wegmans, and was picking up some ham to make an amazing sandwich, and I had a choice between the:  

Wegmans 97% fat free ham

And

Applegate Farms Uncured Organic Ham

I chose the organic ham.  Here's why:

For Comparison lets see what the differences are:

                                Applegate Farms          Wegmans                              

Serving Size                  2 slices                         2 oz.

How many ounces in an Applegate Farms slice of meat?  Personally, I don't know, so right off the bat we are comparing apples to oranges for the rest of this academic discussion.... but we shall continue...

Calories                       50 per serving          60 per serving

Calories from  fat:        10                              20

(Remember, Wegmans can label theirs as 97 % fat free.)

Total Fat                      1.5g                           2g

Saturated                     0.5g                           1g

Trans Fat                     0g                              not listed

So even with a label of 97 % fat free, would lead the shopper to think something is better for you, it may not necessarily is.

Where does this lead us?  I would start by understanding that this is a very large grain of salt when reading food labels; the food labels themselves FOR THAT PARTICULAR PRODUCT will give us a wealth of information, and also realize that what the manufacturers want us to think is good for us may not necessarily be the best choice for us to take.

- Drew

Source: Wegmans.com