Accuracy of nutrition labels?

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jenndiddy
jenndiddy Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a jar of mango chutney from a dollar store. There's no brand name I can see on it, but it says product of UK on it. Label states 10 calories per tablespoon. Seems very low. I've seen others clock in at 40 cals, even 60! Have you heard of these labels being wrong? Can they be trusted? Thanks!

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  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Yeah some labels are definitely off. I bought some shrimps that claimed to be 45 calories for 3 ounces, I don't even think it would be possible if they were half filled with water. And they had no brand too (bought at Walmart).

    When too good to be true, I use another more realistic entry.
  • KylaDenay
    KylaDenay Posts: 1,585 Member
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    I would probably just search mango chutney in the database and used the most verified option.
  • Tilran
    Tilran Posts: 626 Member
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    The only curve ball is the fact you mentioned it is made in the UK. In the US, the FDA evaluates the recipe and calculates the Nutritional Facts Information and what it says is supposedly accurate +/- 10%. So if it was a US product, I'd believe it.
  • jenndiddy
    jenndiddy Posts: 9 Member
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    Thanks, guess it's too good to be true!
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    Tilran wrote: »
    The only curve ball is the fact you mentioned it is made in the UK. In the US, the FDA evaluates the recipe and calculates the Nutritional Facts Information and what it says is supposedly accurate +/- 10%. So if it was a US product, I'd believe it.


    Actually, a nutrition label can be wrong by 20% but only on the high side. Not sure about UK.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    The UK has stringent food labelling regulations, but I'm surprised there's no brand ..we even have to state if food contains genetically modified product which I don't believe the US does

    We don't have a 20% variance allowance either. All nutrition labels provide an average based on manufacturers analysis of ingredients or calculation from known or actual average values of the ingredients used; or calculation from generally established and accepted data.

    We do give kilojoules as well as kilocalories

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