Misleading FALSE Serving Size

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  • Ready4Changes
    Ready4Changes Posts: 89
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    I have also seen this. I have to be areful when buying stuff.
  • Ready4Changes
    Ready4Changes Posts: 89
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    I have also seen this. I have to be areful when buying stuff.
  • islandnutshel
    islandnutshel Posts: 1,143 Member
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    I love measuring out a serving of cereal. Do you realy think that 3/4 of a cup of dry cereal is going to keep me full till lunch? NOT going to happen. (Adding a banana or strawberries bulk it up a little. )
  • Mkserpa
    Mkserpa Posts: 136
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    Everything is misleading!!! I will first check the calories on something like a salad from my work (I work in a grocery store), "Oh 250 isn't bad at all for this!" then scan up a bit and read "3 servings! OMG!!!!!" INSANE!!!
  • amietest
    amietest Posts: 57 Member
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    This is why I really like
    - laughing cow cheese wedges instead of normal cream cheese - a wedge is a wedge, you use it and that's the calories.
    - hot pocket breakfasts - one pocket, one breakfast
    - McDonald's happy meals with a hamburger, apple slices and diet coke. the calories are the calories.
  • Beebee78
    Beebee78 Posts: 703
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    It makes me realise how lucky we are in the UK - packaging over here is very clearly labelled with serving size and nutritional information making it very easy for consumers to make sensible purchases xxx
  • diverdi
    diverdi Posts: 64 Member
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    It happens a bit even here in the UK (although I've not seen anything as daft as a muffin listed as 2-3 servings!)
    A few months ago I stumbled across some pots of cousous in Tesco, calories per serving 60. I though this was great, bought loads and had them for lunch most days, and then I looked a little closer and saw that that was per serving size of 1 tablespoon, how the hell are you meant to work out how much you're getting based on that?!
  • Kate_UK
    Kate_UK Posts: 1,299 Member
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    Companies are well aware that many consumers are looking more closely at food lables before buying. So when they work out how many caloris are in a single muffin for example, and realise that its very high, they know no health conscious person is going to buy it if they think they are consuming half a days calories in one bite. so they put 'good' looking values into the lable and then in the small print say that that is for just a 1/3 of the cake. Just to to make thier goods apear to be more healthy, and hopfully the consumer won't look too closely. Very annoying!:devil:
  • jlorton82
    jlorton82 Posts: 21
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    Soup cans or individual soup packets that you mix with water...they are also misleading. Most soups are about 3.5 servings. Gotta be careful with that. I agree that labels should be required. There is alot stuff that people dont realize they are eating. There is enough sodium in deli sandwiches that are advertised as healthy for you to go over a daily limit by eating half of it. Gotta check everything these days.
  • JJs25th
    JJs25th Posts: 204 Member
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    This is such a pain in the !@#! I cut a muffin into 4ths the other day and my 21 year old son (who has no weight issues) asked why. When I explained that what I took was the listed serving size he was floored to realize he had been eating 4 servings each morning for breakfast. I too think it should be illegal -- if it is packaged to imply that it should be consummed in one sitting -- it is one serving and should be labled as such.
  • genovesse
    genovesse Posts: 7
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    I totally agree. I think that is a good idea about putting the amount of servings on the front of the package. Especially on individual packs.
  • Scorpiomom222
    Scorpiomom222 Posts: 1,462 Member
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    Portion size in America is crazy. It's actually disgusting. I can't believe how much I used to shovel onto my plate and go back for 2nd's.
  • Melora
    Melora Posts: 65 Member
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    I'd rather look at a package, see 1 servings and it read 460 calories rather than 2.5 servings at 184 calories a piece and have to take my phone out to count carories. It is counterintuitive and counterproductive.
    [/quote]


    I totally agree!!!

    We shouldn't expect anyone to care about our health if we don't! It goes back to taking responsiblity for our own actions. Don't blame McDonald's because you are over weight! Dont' eat at McDonald's. When I was a kid eating out was a treat. nowadays people expect to eat out!
  • stringcheeze
    stringcheeze Posts: 286
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    Or has anybody noticed that dinner plates are getting bigger? My grandmother's dinner plates are the size of our saucers today. I just got some plates from Walmart and they are huge! Even the cereal bowls are huge! Talk about encouraging over eating..

    I kind of like the large bowls myself -- I like giving my salad greens room to co-mingle with the broccoli chunks, green peppers, bits of cheese, and tuna without getting claustrophobic. :laugh:

    Caveat Emptor. Seriously, it's not up to the government to portion things -- I'm happy that they've provided nutrition labels (even if they are skewed and can be up to 20% wrong) and am more than willing to spend a bit of time comparison shopping until I find something I like. You can't force anything on the consumer -- if they want it, they'll eat it, and so be it. If they want an education about the food they consume, all they have to do is turn the package around and look at the label.
  • Tasha1476
    Tasha1476 Posts: 220
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    Congress is considering passing a new FDA regulation that requires serving sizes on labels to resemble what people actually eat.

    If you want to eat the whole muffin, instead of saying it is 120 calories per serving, but it is 2 servings, the requirement would be for the package to read 1 serving for 240 calories.

    It is VERY misleading to have so many servings in a single package. And I agree it is one reason why people are so overweight. Portion sizes in the restaurants are also quite larger than they used to be. Just more calories.

    Restaurants are RIDICULOUS! I hadnt eaten at a sit down restaurant in a while and when I did I was like WHY would anyone need this much food? But its all there and because its right there you WANT it. I think portion control should be much more strongly implemented in restaurants
  • irridia
    irridia Posts: 527 Member
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    Serving size I can deal with. On at least 2 different occasions, I have grabbed something with no indications of "diet" , "low calorie", "reduced calorie", "reduced sugar" or any other indication on the main package labeling that would indicate I should read the label for artificial sweetners only to find after taking a bite, or drink the tell-tale yucky aftertaste of some nasty chemical I would otherwise not put in my mouth.

    I also think that hydrolized protien is a cover story for msg, not sure though. I've heard also that the manufacturers of HFC are requesting a name change.

    Yet again another reason to love Vitamin water. They do have 2 servings per bottle I believe but even then it's only 100 cal/bottle.

    The restraunt thing is kind of annoying, but I still try to portion and then ask for a doggie bag and have it for lunch the next day.
  • Scorpiomom222
    Scorpiomom222 Posts: 1,462 Member
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    This is such a pain in the !@#! I cut a muffin into 4ths the other day and my 21 year old son (who has no weight issues) asked why. When I explained that what I took was the listed serving size he was floored to realize he had been eating 4 servings each morning for breakfast. I too think it should be illegal -- if it is packaged to imply that it should be consummed in one sitting -- it is one serving and should be labled as such.

    Maybe we should sign a petition!
  • Jenn97355
    Jenn97355 Posts: 103 Member
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    I agree... I was cutting something in quarters the other day, and my 9yr old asked why i was doing that...I told her "each one of these is a serving size"(I am teaching her to read the labels) So she picked up the label, and said"well, this says it's only 100 calories> what a buncha liars"!!! Hey---Out of the mouths of babes!!! The should have to put the SERVING SIZE in bigger font...Unfortunately they are all about $$, and the gov't doesn't really care about our health(look what they serve at schools!)

    BTW--That's STINKING funny about the Pam!!
  • starheart24
    starheart24 Posts: 47
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    Yep it is so discouraging! I was looking at Uno's Chicago Grill website to try to plan my dinner out on friday. It was very misleading... because they had sections of under 500 calories or certain carbs or sodium. However all the dishes had more then 1 serving.. I am very disappointed in their website.
  • jennievh
    jennievh Posts: 45 Member
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    Congress is considering passing a new FDA regulation that requires serving sizes on labels to resemble what people actually eat.

    That is good news. I just ran into this with a Trader Joe's meal. I entered it in to MFP, and the calories that came up didn't make sense. I was sure the entry was wrong! Then I read the label--1.5 servings per box! Who's going to put part of it away for later, or only eat 2/3? I complained to TJs. They usually have more sense.

    MFP is also making me read labels more closely--not just for serving size/total calories, but also for "calories from fat." Wow, what an eye-opener!

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