The "lean" label

by Nicole Weston, Posted Jan 13th 2007 @ 10:33AM

There are federal regulations in place that dictate how terms like "fat free," "low fat," "reduced fat" and "light," among others, can be used with regard to food. Fat free foods, for example, must contain less than .5 grams of fat per serving. It may seem like there is enough definition in this area of food labeling already, but a new label is catching on rapidly: the "lean" label.

For a long time, the "lean" label has been applied only to USDA certified meats that have less than 8 grams of total fat per serving, and no more than 3.5 mg of saturated fats. A recent ruling change means that the term can now be applied to packaged foods, putting it in direct competition with "fat free" and other existing labels for the consumer's attention at the grocery store.

Do consumers really need another way to describe the fat content of, say, frozen pizza? It would probably be too much to as that they just start printing the fat content right on the front of the box.

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Filed Under: Stores & Shopping, Did you know?, Light Food, Health & Medical
Tags: did you know, fat, fat free, fats, food, label, labeling, lean, light food, low fat, manufacturer, store, stores, stores-and-shopping