"labels" news and stories

Even the most careful calorie-counters would be duped by the newfound limitations on trans-fat labeling. Those "trans fat free" foods may not be so.

Case Western Reserve University of Medicine graduate student Eric Brandt published a piece in the January/February issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion stating that the Food and Drug Administration allows foods containing less than .5 grams of trans fat to be labeled "trans fat free" or "zero trans fat," reports My Health News Daily.

"That's because the policy requires that fat amounts less than 5 grams be listed in 0.5 gram increments, and allows food producers to round down to the lower increment," reports the Daily. "Foods with more than 5 grams of fat are required to use one gram increments."

Brandt notes that eating at least three such items could take you over the daily recommended max of 1.11 grams of trans fats -- three items at .49 grams would equal 1.47 grams -- which could lead to increased risk of coronary artery disease and diabates. The article makes a call to arms (that is, the FDA) to change labeling laws to indicate trans fats starting with .1 grams, so we can finally see what those "zero trans fat" Krispy Kreme donuts are really made of.

Read "The Skinny on Fats" at KitchenDaily for more info, and click "Continue" for a video on trans-fat labling.

The fight over facts presented on the front of packages are about to come to a head. The battle has long been over the selective truths and marketing ploys that riddle our cardboard boxes, from those that tout immunity to those that give a nondescript check of approval. Now, the Grocery Manufacturer's Association (GMA) has announced a front-of-package labeling initiative that will supposedly work to "inform consumers and combat obesity," as the organization's October 27th press release states.

Too bad, though, that it actually comes after the FDA-sponsored memo from the Institute of Medicine, "recommending that FOP [front of package] symbols only mention calories, sodium, trans fat and saturated fat," writes nutritionist and NYU professor Marion Nestle in a recent article for The Atlantic Food Channel. But rather than advertise what could be bad in a product, companies would much prefer to let you know what's good about it, notes Nestle.

According to the press release from GMA, "This program will add important nutrition information on calories and other nutrients..." and "to appeal to busy consumers, the information will be presented in a fact-based, simple and easy-to-use format." We would hope they'd be fact based, but don't think this means you shouldn't look to that table on the back. Companies will focus on the nutrients they do provide, but may choose to omit those facts that can harm.

Do you find the traditional nutrition label on food packaging a tad confusing? I sometimes do, and I'm an avid nutrition-label-reader. A new system aims to simplify everything with one score.

The NuVal Nutrition Scoring System will debut in a few national supermarkets some time in the near future. The system uses a score called the ONQI (Overall Nutritional Quality Index), which will give each food item a score based on its micro-nutrients, macro-nutrients, and other "nutritional properties". The goal is for the one number to be an overall indicator of the nutritiouness of the food in question.

The score is out of 100, with 100 being the healthiest. The system wants to give consumers a quick overview of healthiness without absolute terms like "good" or "bad". There's no information on which supermarkets will be the first to adopt the sytem, but the website says to look for updates by the beginning of October.

OMG, icanhascheezburger.com is teaming up with Jones Soda! If you don't know about the wildly popular lol cats, you've been buried further under the rock than I have. The trend combines a cute cat image with a funny caption, and its been tremendously popular on the internet.

Now this movement is headed out into the real world as a label on Jones Soda brand drinks. The soda maker approached the website icanhascheezburger.com about using this imagery, and the website agreed. There's also a contest on the website to create more lol cat images specifically to adorn the front of Jones Soda bottles.

Jones Soda is known for its interesting and offbeat labels, as well as for being a higher end soft drink. Now they may be known for bringing an internet trend to the unconnected masses. Don't look now, but Jones Soda is in ur internet, stealin ur trends!

[Via So Good]

The "traffic-light" nutrition labels unveiled by the British Food Standards agency may not be popular with the food manufacturers and supermarkets, who are uncomfortable with the black and white (or red, yellow/orange and green) separation of "good" and "bad" foods, but consumers love them. The labeling system uses the three traffic light colors to distinguish between high, medium and low levels of fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt in food. The labels are very simple in design and it is easy to tell at a glance what the nutritional profile of a food is.

Out of all the supporters the system, parents are some of the biggest fans. Almost 80% of all parents would prefer if food manufacturers used the "traffic light" labels. They take very little time to read and, unlike the more detailed labels that use the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) system, no "real world" translation of the information presented is necessary. On top of that, even small children can get the hang of the color-coded system very quickly, which helps to teach them about nutrition, as well as to make taking them along to the store much easier.

Source