Different labeling rules regarding USA and Canada

PAPYRUS3

Lifesource Foods Oat Fiber (sourced: usa)

Organic Oat Fiber , 227 g (Pack of 1)
Brand: Ecoideas(sourced: Canada)

I'm curious about the differences. Different labeling rules for each country? I'm assuming so.

Canada being more accurate (below 5 grams) and USA allowing companies to post 'zero' calories if amount is less than 5 grams?

paperpudding

The serving sizes are different too?
top one shows serving size of 1/10 g and then underneath serves per cont. (short for container?) 146
Bottom one shows serving size 3g.
if I have understood the labels correctly

good argument for the australian system where all products must show calories per 100g as well as optionally per serving

sbdriver2

I think the top one shows 3 & 1/10g (3.1g), 0 calories? The bottom one is 3g serving and 10 calories. I don't understand the difference in calorie count. Everything else looks fairly close in comparison.

BarbaraHelen2013

paperpudding wrote: »

The serving sizes are different too?
top one shows serving size of 1/10 g and then underneath serves per cont. (short for container?) 146
Bottom one shows serving size 3g.
if I have understood the labels correctly

good argument for the australian system where all products must show calories per 100g as well as optionally per serving

That’s how we do it in the UK too. Much easier to do a like for like comparison when standing in the supermarket if you can see the per 100g numbers.

PAPYRUS3

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

The serving sizes are different too?
top one shows serving size of 1/10 g and then underneath serves per cont. (short for container?) 146
Bottom one shows serving size 3g.
if I have understood the labels correctly

good argument for the australian system where all products must show calories per 100g as well as optionally per serving

That’s how we do it in the UK too. Much easier to do a like for like comparison when standing in the supermarket if you can see the per 100g numbers.

Yes! Then customers really know what they are buying, instead of falling 'victim' to marketing 'tricks'...
(the top bag is 3 & 1/10g (3.1g), '0 calories')

paperpudding

Well anything can have zero calories if zero means under 5 and serving sizes are as small as you want them to be and you get 146 servings per container.

neanderthin

Yeah 0 and none have never been considered equal in labeling. Shout out to the food industrial complex. Cheers

paints5555

paperpudding wrote: »

Well anything can have zero calories if zero means under 5 and serving sizes are as small as you want them to be and you get 146 servings per container.

Food companies can't just make up a serving size in the US. FDA specifies what a serving size is for different product categories. So unless you have a very small single serving container that is less than the official serving size, you can't just label a product with a smaller serving size.

The US label above does not make sense if it is the same product. With a 3.1g serving size (which is supposed to be rounded to the nearest 0.5g if < 5g in the US) the nutrition values are supposed to be calculated the same way in Canada and the US although sometimes the numbers are rounded differently. The label pictured is the old US label format and only the new format is supposed to be used after Jan 1, 2020. It is also missing the common household measure (teaspoons in this case) which is a required element of the label.

PAPYRUS3

paints5555 wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

Well anything can have zero calories if zero means under 5 and serving sizes are as small as you want them to be and you get 146 servings per container.

Food companies can't just make up a serving size in the US. FDA specifies what a serving size is for different product categories. So unless you have a very small single serving container that is less than the official serving size, you can't just label a product with a smaller serving size.

The US label above does not make sense if it is the same product. With a 3.1g serving size (which is supposed to be rounded to the nearest 0.5g if < 5g in the US) the nutrition values are supposed to be calculated the same way in Canada and the US although sometimes the numbers are rounded differently. The label pictured is the old US label format and only the new format is supposed to be used after Jan 1, 2020. It is also missing the common household measure (teaspoons in this case) which is a required element of the label.

That's interesting. I bought the product last year on Amazon. I guess this label wasn't updated. 🤷🏼‍♀️