Europe/UK Related Nutrition Question

cortesd

I will be heading over to Spain to care for my ailing MIL and it looks like it will be for quite some time (ie months). Does anyone here have any insight into the accuracy of food labels over there? I know most of the grocery items have nutrition info, but I was wondering if it's as biased as the U.S. (under-reported by almost 10%) Also, I'm not sure the USDA numbers will translate well since meat over there is produced slightly differently (not as much corn and other "stuff" in the animals' diet).

I have only been logging accurately for about a month or so, but it's really working for me so I hate to have to give in to "eyeballing it" for such a lengthy time. I plan on either bringing my food scales or purchasing one once I'm settled in. Not all of my food will be homemade, so I'll have to rely on food labels quite a bit. Also, does anyone have any experience with using the UPC code scanner outside the U.S.? TIA!

rainbowbow

If anything I think the nutritional information will be more accurate.

Anytime I purchase items from the US with the US label on them my grocery store sticks an entirely new sticker on the item. 9/10 the calories are CLOSE but usually a little bit more (+5).

Also, all of the items are labeled in calories per 100g. Some items have calories per 100g and the calories per x-g that's in the package. My suggestion is to definitely bring your food scale because you'll need it.

There are no "serving size is ABOUT 10 chips" or any vague *kitten* like in the US.

As far as the scanner is concerned, it works just fine. I use it only sometimes when the name has special characters or is hard to find.

cortesd

Thanks! Good tip about the 100g serving size, I had forgotten about that. Does make things simpler, imho.

rainbowbow

here's the requirements for packaging foods in the EU

http://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/docs/labelling_nutrition-vitamins_minerals-guidance_tolerances_summary_table_012013_en.pdf

You'll notice calories (like i was saying above) must be rounded to the nearest 1kcal.

hamlet1222

Sorry to hear about your mother in law, if you were going under better circumstances I'd be suggesting loads of delicious (and healthy) spanish food to try. The food labeling in europe is pretty good, some supermarket brands are better than others a this. They all should have the per 100g somewhere though.

cortesd

hamlet1222 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your mother in law, if you were going under better circumstances I'd be suggesting loads of delicious (and healthy) spanish food to try. The food labeling in europe is pretty good, some supermarket brands are better than others a this. They all should have the per 100g somewhere though.

Thanks! I love Spanish cuisine and my MIL was the BEST cook! I have a few of her recipes, but it's just not the same without the amazing fresh Spanish produce. I know I'll be guzzling gazpacho whenever I can!!

pembr0ke

I was in Girona this summer and found labels similar to uk due to eu legislation.

AMRROL

Here in France, not every item in the grocery store has nutritional information on the label. It can be hit or miss, particularly with meats and deli items. Quite frustrating. And often scanning the label into MFP results in item not found. And yes, everything is measured in terms of 100 gram servings. I imagine that Spain would be no different.