Listing calories on the front of packaging

100df

I am making cookies for my daughter to take to a party. I bought Skor candy bars to add to the dough.

I noticed that the calories are listed right on the front. The M&M bags had calories listed on the front too. Then I noticed that some of the "king size" bars didn't list calories but had some sort of language like "king size to share".  Clever marketing there.

Skor bars are a favorite of mine. I had intended to buy an extra one for me to eat. Seeing the 200 calories stopped me. I will try to be happy with a couple of pieces instead of eating 200 calories. Just don't have them to spend right now because of my broken ankle.

I am wondering what the crowd here thinks about requiring calories to be listed on the front like this - separate from the nutrition label. Would it help people to be aware of calories?  Or should we just all be responsible for ourselves and make the effort to read the nutrition label?

shinycrazy

I do like it being there. Also I like it on the fast(casual) food restaurants. More than once it's stopped me in my tracks to think about what I really wanted.

MissusMoon

It's convenient, that's for sure. If it makes people generally stop and think about it, that's good, too.

Ruatine

I'm a big fan of this. I love packaging that shows the calorie count per serving (and what that serving is) on the front of the package. It stopped me buying a frozen pizza the other day. It was a personal size pizza, and I saw the calories on the front said 330 for 1/2 the pizza. While I could have fit it in, I didn't particularly want to be so limited in my eating choices for the rest of the day. Having the calories on the front of package makes it very easy when I'm doing an off-cycle grocery run for something to eat and am not sure what I want to buy.

Timshel_

100df wrote: »

I am wondering what the crowd here thinks about requiring calories to be listed on the front like this - separate from the nutrition label. Would it help people to be aware of calories?

I think it is good and it helps. People that don't watch calories, it wouldn't matter if it was the ONLY thing on a label, but for those who do care it is nice.

Jruzer

100df wrote: »

I am making cookies for my daughter to take to a party. I bought Skor candy bars to add to the dough.

I noticed that the calories are listed right on the front. The M&M bags had calories listed on the front too. Then I noticed that some of the "king size" bars didn't list calories but had some sort of language like "king size to share".  Clever marketing there.

Skor bars are a favorite of mine. I had intended to buy an extra one for me to eat. Seeing the 200 calories stopped me. I will try to be happy with a couple of pieces instead of eating 200 calories. Just don't have them to spend right now because of my broken ankle.

I am wondering what the crowd here thinks about requiring calories to be listed on the front like this - separate from the nutrition label. Would it help people to be aware of calories?  Or should we just all be responsible for ourselves and make the effort to read the nutrition label?

I think it's a good idea. It's helpful to me to make quick decisions. It also illustrates the primacy of calories. Most people aren't eating a Skor bar to get more niacin.

I don't object to them not providing calories for "king size" candy bars, though. Maybe that should be for sharing. At a certain point you have to make a cutoff for what constitutes an individual serving. Should a 2-liter bottle of soda list the whole thing as a single serving, just because some people might consume it that way?

courtneylykins5

It can be misleading. Often calories are listed as packaged. When some packaged foods are prepared, the calorie count is much higher. Boxed mac & cheese is a good example of this. So while having the calories listed on the front is helpful, it's important to know if that's the whole story

singingflutelady

Though with make and cheese on the back it usually says lists calories for prepared and unprepared. I know that's not the front but it takes an extra 2 seconds to turn the package over to look

kaylajane11

I like this when I'm trying to choose the best option from the vending machine at work. There's no way to pick up the item and check out the back in that situation.

The_Enginerd

kaylajane11 wrote: »

I like this when I'm trying to choose the best option from the vending machine at work. There's no way to pick up the item and check out the back in that situation.

Same here. For every other situation, the person who is likely to pay attention to these things and care is likely the same person who would take the couple of seconds to turn the box around and look at the back.

NorthCascades

100df wrote: »

I am wondering what the crowd here thinks about requiring calories to be listed on the front like this - separate from the nutrition label.

My hunch is that it isn't required, some companies are doing it themselves for marketing reasons. If you expect a candy bar to be 250 or 300 cals and this one says it's 200, suddenly it seems like a good "deal."

yarwell

Turning packages over is a form of exercise.

Need2Exerc1se

Does Mars make Skor bars? They've started a campaign to address overeating.

It doesn't really matter to me where the calories are. I've never had a hard time turning the package over to read the ingredients/nutrition labels.

100df

NorthCascades wrote: »

100df wrote: »

I am wondering what the crowd here thinks about requiring calories to be listed on the front like this - separate from the nutrition label.

My hunch is that it isn't required, some companies are doing it themselves for marketing reasons. If you expect a candy bar to be 250 or 300 cals and this one says it's 200, suddenly it seems like a good "deal."

I don't think it's required now but wondering if it should be. I am sure you are right in that it's a marketing ploy now.

One other interesting thing I noticed is that there were very few regular size candy bars available for sale. Most were king size or whatever they call the larger size.

moe0303

I like the idea of it being there, but I don't like the idea of requiring companies to do it. That falls more along the lines of political debate rather than anything health related though.

moe0303

yarwell wrote: »

Turning packages over is a form of exercise.

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

Does Mars make Skor bars? They've started a campaign to address overeating.

It doesn't really matter to me where the calories are. I've never had a hard time turning the package over to read the ingredients/nutrition labels.

While I agree that everybody can turn the packages over, it is useful to be able to survey items without having to handle each one to inspect their nutritional content.

Also useful fro vending machines.

Need2Exerc1se

kaylajane11 wrote: »

I like this when I'm trying to choose the best option from the vending machine at work. There's no way to pick up the item and check out the back in that situation.

Ah, good point. I don't buy from vending machines often so that didn't even occur to me.

Ruatine

moe0303 wrote: »

I like the idea of it being there, but I don't like the idea of requiring companies to do it. That falls more along the lines of political debate rather than anything health related though.

I completely agree with this.

kaylajane11 wrote: »

I like this when I'm trying to choose the best option from the vending machine at work. There's no way to pick up the item and check out the back in that situation.

I also do this for the vending machines at my office. I occasionally pick up a snack from them - packet of chips, jerky, etc. - and it's helpful to see the calories listed on the front of the package to determine what my best choice might be.

NorthCascades

100df wrote: »

I don't think it's required now but wondering if it should be.

I wouldn't have a strong objection.

Personally, I'm willing to find the nutrition label and read the calories (and multiply) when it's important to me. A lot of people who aren't willing to do that would benefit from it, though, and putting it "in your face" would reach these people. My hunch is these people outnumber us by at least 100:1, just look around outside if you disagree. I think raising everybody's standard of living is a good thing.

VintageFeline

I think it's required or an agreed standard among food manufacturers in the UK. I like it, makes for slightly quicker decision making and sometimes turning a pre-packaged meal or tart or something of that ilk, upside down, ruins it! So no squash factor. It's usually per prepared portion but states that on there too. (We have the traffic light system too, which is less helpful I think as it demonises fat).

tlflag1620

I think it can be helpful. However it is usually labeled as "X number of calories" per serving so you still have to turn over the package to find out just how much a serving is (some of the labels say per bar, or per pack if it's more of an individually packaged item, but for larger packages you'd still need to know what a "serving" is). And for me it would be pretty well useless. I generally don't concern myself with calorie counts of foods (sacrilege around here I know, lol). I'm more interested in the macros and ingredients when making food decisions, so I'd still have to flip the package over.

sashayoung72

I like it because as i've AGED the print on the back can be quite tiny and i'm all squinty trying to figure out what the funk it says and also if i am wanting a snacky thing and i can scan the items, the ones with front print will get my vote quicker. Well done marketing guys.....

100df

sashayoung72 wrote: »

I like it because as i've AGED the print on the back can be quite tiny and i'm all squinty trying to figure out what the funk it says and also if i am wanting a snacky thing and i can scan the items, the ones with front print will get my vote quicker. Well done marketing guys.....

Ha! I hear you on this. I caved and bought reading glasses when I realized no matter how much weight I lose, my arms won't grow longer!

Rarely am anywhere that has vending machines but I think the calorie on the front is awesome.

Lounmoun

I think it would be great to have the calories highlighted by being on the front of packages- particularly of snack foods.

I have a package of hamburger buns in my kitchen that has the calories on the front. I didn't actually notice it when I bought it and when I was thinking of eating one I again didn't notice and just looked at the nutrition label on the back for calorie information. So I guess it wasn't that helpful to put the calories on the front for me.

fr33sia12

I always look at the back of the packaging anyway as I want to know the other nutrients and the ingredients too.