Don’t fall for marketing terms that sound like health promises. You can’t always make assumptions about food based on its packaging. Labels don’t just inform, they sell.
Archive for category Food labeling
Grocery-aisle gotchas
Mar 5
A study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reported that people with low literacy levels are half as likely to correctly measure one cup of food as those with high literacy. The investigators said that estimation accuracy was not affected by food preference.
The 18th Annual European Food Law Conference is to be held on 31 March – 1 April 2009 in Brussels. The theme is ‘Food Labelling and Health Claims’.
Audio interview with Klaus Grunert from Denmark. He made a study funded by EUFIC on GDA and other labels.
Enjoy these thoughts from Fooducate: 1. Real serving size. 2. How much sugar? 3. How much added sugar? 4. Front of Package Labeling. 5. Trans-fat: Zero should be zero. 6. Improved ingredient list. 7. Highlight controversial ingredients. 8. No more qualified health claims. 9. Labels for unpackaged foods. 10. Caffeine content. 11. Better allergy and intolerance info. 12. Country of origin information. 13. Specificity. 14. Label Booz. 15. GE/GM Info. 16. Use Tech.
Coca-Cola’s line of VitaminWater drinks is not healthful, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which is suing the beverage company for what it calls deceptive and unsubstantiated claims.
Director General Melanie Leech from the UK Food and Drink Federation is interviewed about GDA and other food information schemes.
German MEP Renate Sommer is according to foodnavigator.com open to industry labelling schemes like GDA.
Nutritional labelling may mean more to consumers than portion sizes, according to a joint study from Norway and the US. Information about portion size may not be a good tool to manipulate food-intake behavior. Consumers’ concept of portion size is associated more with objective measures of food than with personal experience about the amount that would be appropriate to eat. See also http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Portion-size-may-not-be-a-good-way-to-curb-obesity-Study?nocount
The chairman of the Australian Government’s Preventative Health Taskforce, Professor Rob Moodie, said the taskforce will be assessing different approaches to food labelling, including moves in the US to include the calorie content of foods on restaurant menus. We need to work out what the best form of labelling is, the clearest form for the consumer, he said.The taskforce wants to halve Australia’s obesity rate by 2020 by taxing unhealthy foods, regulating sugar and fat content, and restricting junk food advertising, particularly to children.