Wish Food Labels Weren't So Scammy!
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ummm.....you ate 25 servings of a snack that is 100cal you didn't know what to look for....
and yes, people can and do eat half a can of ravoli - I do it frequently - I look and see the serving size, figure out how much of it fits my calories for the day, weight it out and cook it; if I buy a muffin and look and see that the serving size is half, then I log it as 2 servings
the data is out there for you to accurately track13 -
And obviously I am exaggerating, but there does need to be some sort of change and false advertising really needs to be cracked down on.9
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Why do they not advertise honestly and offer serving sizes that are realistic? No one eats half a can of ravioli. They eat the whole can, but if they label it as half a serving they can advertise it as 220 calories. Advertising as all natural and healthy when something has added sugars and tons of fillers. I shouldn't have to read every ingredient on every product ever when I am shopping to make sure they aren't lying. The serving sizes need to at least be standardized and companies should not be able to advertise "All Natural Apple Juice" in big letters with Flavored Drink in small letters and a tiny little print on the back that says "contains no fruit juice". You really think that is being honest, and that they don't know they can trick people into thinking it is healthy? I am educated and know what to look for, but tons of people are not so I can see why it is hard for many to lose weight.
I think that if it takes hours to find anything healthy that your definition of healthy is way too narrow. If you can not determine the serving size even though it was it right on the label that the mistake is on you.12 -
but its not false...there is nothing factually incorrect about saying only 100cal a serving...even if there is more than 1 serving in a bag...10
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Why do they not advertise honestly and offer serving sizes that are realistic? No one eats half a can of ravioli. They eat the whole can, but if they label it as half a serving they can advertise it as 220 calories. Advertising as all natural and healthy when something has added sugars and tons of fillers. I shouldn't have to read every ingredient on every product ever when I am shopping to make sure they aren't lying. The serving sizes need to at least be standardized and companies should not be able to advertise "All Natural Apple Juice" in big letters with Flavored Drink in small letters and a tiny little print on the back that says "contains no fruit juice". You really think that is being honest, and that they don't know they can trick people into thinking it is healthy? I am educated and know what to look for, but tons of people are not so I can see why it is hard for many to lose weight.
Speak for yourself. Maybe someone else would eat half a can of ravioli--you don't know and you can't realistically speak for everyone everywhere all the time, can you? Of course you can't.
As for the rest, you apparently don't know what to look for since you're so easily duped into buying things that you later find don't work for you. Honestly, sitting there and lambasting manufacturers and producers for their "dishonesty" when really you just need to read the label and do the math.
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Why do they not advertise honestly and offer serving sizes that are realistic? No one eats half a can of ravioli. They eat the whole can, but if they label it as half a serving they can advertise it as 220 calories. Advertising as all natural and healthy when something has added sugars and tons of fillers. I shouldn't have to read every ingredient on every product ever when I am shopping to make sure they aren't lying. The serving sizes need to at least be standardized and companies should not be able to advertise "All Natural Apple Juice" in big letters with Flavored Drink in small letters and a tiny little print on the back that says "contains no fruit juice". You really think that is being honest, and that they don't know they can trick people into thinking it is healthy? I am educated and know what to look for, but tons of people are not so I can see why it is hard for many to lose weight.
Food companies don't determine what the serving size is. That is determined by the FDA. The only power a company would have is to not sell anything except in single serving packages and that wouldn't be very convenient for many people and would wind up frustrating a lot of consumers.
Sometimes people open a can of ravioli and feed it to more than one person. If someone wants to eat multiple servings of ravioli, how is that the fault of a food company?
Sugar is "natural," so a company isn't doing anything wrong when they say that.
If the argument is that people don't understand what "natural" means, then let's work on that instead.
People eating an huge box of food and only stopping when they feel bloated isn't something that can be solved by regulation.10 -
Learn how to read ingredient lists and labels. It takes some getting used to, but it doesn't take any more time to flip the bottle of apple juice over and read the ingredient list than it does to read the front of the label. Don't rely on product advertising to help you make health choices. Product marketers don't know or care about your definition of "healthy" (and please keep in mind that your "healthy" may not be the same as my "healthy", so there's no way any product can meet everyone's standards); they're just trying to get you to buy their product.10
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This thread makes me sad.
I've been reading food labels since I was ten years old. It was something that I learned to do for my first Girl Scout badge back in 1972.
We had a unit in high school science class about menu planning and nutrition. Again, this was in the '70's.
What has happened in our schools since then?
I homeschool my kids and have taken them grocery shopping. They know the same stuff I did.
If something is printed on the back of the box, that's not a scam or hidden information. It's right there waiting for you to read it.
Your own personal lack of knowledge on how to access the information is not the fault of the manufacturer. Nutrition labels with calorie count information and ingredient lists are usually pretty easy to find on packaging.17 -
The only package I've ever been frustrated by was a box of granola cereal. When looking more closely at the box, it said 10 servings per package, but there were four individual inner packages. Yup, each inner package was 2.5 servings. Fortunately, I read the box and weighed the serving.
It seems to me that you are becoming increasingly aware of foods and food labels, and seeing demons where there really isn't anything. Things that are right on the label aren't hidden. Serving sizes that are right on the label aren't hidden. It's like with everything else you purchase (vehicles, homes, etc.) it is on you to educate yourself. Keep working at it, keep learning.4 -
And obviously I am exaggerating, but there does need to be some sort of change and false advertising really needs to be cracked down on.
It's not false advertising to say, for example, 220 calories per serving...can of ravioli contains 2 servings. They're telling you it's 2 servings and each serving is 220 calories...whether you split that with someone else or not would be up to you. Also, serving sizes are established by the FDA, not the company making the product. The FDA is making some changes to their serving sizes to more accurately reflect what an individual would eat...but it's the FDA, not the company making the food that determines what they have to put on the label as a serving.
As far as something like All Natural Apple Juice being a flavored drink instead...I can't say that I've ever seen that.3 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »The only package I've ever been frustrated by was a box of granola cereal. When looking more closely at the box, it said 10 servings per package, but there were four individual inner packages. Yup, each inner package was 2.5 servings. Fortunately, I read the box and weighed the serving.
It seems to me that you are becoming increasingly aware of foods and food labels, and seeing demons where there really isn't anything. Things that are right on the label aren't hidden. Serving sizes that are right on the label aren't hidden. It's like with everything else you purchase (vehicles, homes, etc.) it is on you to educate yourself. Keep working at it, keep learning.
The only label to ever defeat me was/is microwave popcorn. It can be really confusing (unless there is a trick that I'm missing).
I usually just air-pop anyway.6 -
You know what IS a scammy label? Non-GMO project. Contains no <insert thing here that is not actually harmful>. Organic.7
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janejellyroll wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »The only package I've ever been frustrated by was a box of granola cereal. When looking more closely at the box, it said 10 servings per package, but there were four individual inner packages. Yup, each inner package was 2.5 servings. Fortunately, I read the box and weighed the serving.
It seems to me that you are becoming increasingly aware of foods and food labels, and seeing demons where there really isn't anything. Things that are right on the label aren't hidden. Serving sizes that are right on the label aren't hidden. It's like with everything else you purchase (vehicles, homes, etc.) it is on you to educate yourself. Keep working at it, keep learning.
The only label to ever defeat me was/is microwave popcorn. It can be really confusing (unless there is a trick that I'm missing).
I usually just air-pop anyway.
Oh my gosh! Yes! Just tell me how many calories the whole stupid bag is, because I'm going to eat it all myself anyway!5 -
I've seen that one quite a bit. In the US, at least, "All Natural" isn't a phrase that the FDA regulates, so companies have a LOT of leeway in terms of when they use it. It's effectively meaningless in terms of giving you information about the product.cwolfman13 wrote: »And obviously I am exaggerating, but there does need to be some sort of change and false advertising really needs to be cracked down on.
It's not false advertising to say, for example, 220 calories per serving...can of ravioli contains 2 servings. They're telling you it's 2 servings and each serving is 220 calories...whether you split that with someone else or not would be up to you. Also, serving sizes are established by the FDA, not the company making the product. The FDA is making some changes to their serving sizes to more accurately reflect what an individual would eat...but it's the FDA, not the company making the food that determines what they have to put on the label as a serving.
As far as something like All Natural Apple Juice being a flavored drink instead...I can't say that I've ever seen that.
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estherdragonbat wrote: »Why would you assume that a product contains a single serving by default?
Pints of Ben & Jerrys aren't single servings?
(But, yeah, not so scammy if you actually read the label
) 5 -
I've seen that one quite a bit. In the US, at least, "All Natural" isn't a phrase that the FDA regulates, so companies have a LOT of leeway in terms of when they use it. It's effectively meaningless in terms of giving you information about the product.cwolfman13 wrote: »And obviously I am exaggerating, but there does need to be some sort of change and false advertising really needs to be cracked down on.
It's not false advertising to say, for example, 220 calories per serving...can of ravioli contains 2 servings. They're telling you it's 2 servings and each serving is 220 calories...whether you split that with someone else or not would be up to you. Also, serving sizes are established by the FDA, not the company making the product. The FDA is making some changes to their serving sizes to more accurately reflect what an individual would eat...but it's the FDA, not the company making the food that determines what they have to put on the label as a serving.
As far as something like All Natural Apple Juice being a flavored drink instead...I can't say that I've ever seen that.
In the US, "juice" is a regulated term (probably other places too, but I'm not as familiar).
"Fruit juice" is limited to 100% juice. If other things are added, it has to be called "juice cocktail" or "juice drink." So if OP has seen something called "All natural apple juice" and it has other ingredients, that's something actionable that can be addressed.3 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I bought some trail mix might look like a single serve package to someone unaware of how caloric nuts are, but it was in fact 2.5 servings. The label did of course say that there were 2.5 servings, but they could have been more obvious about it, which many companies are moving towards.
I picked up some of those because they looked good and had some solid nutrients. But when I looked at that little package and realized there were 2-3 servings in it and each had 180 calories ... pass.2 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »Why would you assume that a product contains a single serving by default?
Pints of Ben & Jerrys aren't single servings?
(But, yeah, not so scammy if you actually read the label )
Of course they are.0
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