Fights Over Food Labeling

Maybe some of you have heard the ongoing debates about the "best" way to provide information on food labels. Right now, there are lots of "healthy choice" endorsements from a variety of groups, but does that help us as consumers to make better choices?

While many of us already feel like there is an encyclopedia on the present food label, now there are all kinds of other "hints" to good health all over the package: Heart Healthy, Whole Grains, Reduced Fat, Low-Salt, No Sugar Added, plus the endorsement of professional medical groups, and the list goes on and on.

As I see it, the problem is that we don't eat separate nutrients, we eat foods. And, when we start to dissect products apart too much, we start to lose focus. I'd love to know what you think about this whole food label issue.

Now, you don't have to be a food scientist to know that Cheerios is going to be a better choice than a sugary cereal, and that plain frozen green beans is a lower fat choice that frozen beans in a butter sauce, but is there a simpler way to move ahead?

From academic institutions to grocery store manufacturers, there are numerous competing suggestions, using numbers or stars to rate foods. While these are both steps in the right direction, perhaps a current European strategy might be something to consider.

The European plan is one of the three basic colors: RED, YELLOW, and GREEN. This was also the basis for a very popular diet plan for children, written almost 30 years ago by Leonard Epstein, PhD, a highly-respected obesity researcher.

While this doesn't provide much in the way of specifics, it gives an easy to use, instant "snapshot" of a product, and further details can be obtained by reading the existing package label.

This issue is just going to continue to heat up, as consumers demand (rightly so!) easy to understand, and accurate information to support healthier food choices.

I'll be revisiting this important issue soon, when some government panels will weigh in on new directions.

Do you think food labels are hard to understand? Misleading? Perhaps both?

Comments

Consumers need help with food choices. If you watch ads for food, the emphasis is on taste, smell, appearance, size and cost. The Food Industrial Complex has learned to market: extra large, rich, creamy and delicious. Healthiness is not considered. That has to change. I would like to see every restaurant and grocer offer and identify "Heart Healthy" entres, soups, salads, breads and deserts. The criteria would include low salt, low fat, no transfats, high fiber, high minerals, no msg. The items on the menu or in the grocery case should have “Heart Healthy”sticker. "Heart Healthy" is an idea. It is immediately understandable by everyone, even children because we have heard all about heart disease for years and years. Heart disease is bad. Heart disease kills people. "Heart Healthy" is good. It can save your life. That idea is already out there. Google "Heart Healthy”. There are 1,590,000 items

yeah, things like heart healthy might be useful, but quite frankly, the last thing we need to do is start labeling "good foods" and bad foods

i agree with the european thought with the red, yellow, and green. it would help so many people in an easy to understand way.. if the goal is to make the population healthier or even just more aware of what they are eating, this will definetly do the trick. american should adapt it ASAP. i'd love it!

Food labeling is very important for people with food allergies. Wheat is a major health problem for people with Celiac disease, and even some people who are just wheat sensitive. Also, other food allergies are hard to handle because the labels are so hard to read. A lot of products are a science experiment - we've lost the idea of good, simple, tasty food. Everything is overdone flavor-wise and shelf stable way longer than is really necessary.

The food industry is designed to make us eat as much as we can as often as we can. Although portion control is still number 1 soem of us have to know about say transfats for cholesterol and tryglicerides. I look first to transfats and then move up. When I ask for the leanest ground beef or roast I am usuallly directed to the stores mix for price. Stabilizing weight is difficult if you are sensitive to whole wheat products. I do find myself going away from meat more but the problem is I don't care for fish. Someday maybe all the nutrients we need will be in pill form and we can quit racking our brain.

The food industry is designed to make us eat as much as we can as often as we can. Although portion control is still number 1 soem of us have to know about say transfats for cholesterol and tryglicerides. I look first to transfats and then move up. When I ask for the leanest ground beef or roast I am usuallly directed to the stores mix for price. Stabilizing weight is difficult if you are sensitive to whole wheat products. I do find myself going away from meat more but the problem is I don't care for fish. Someday maybe all the nutrients we need will be in pill form and we can quit racking our brain.

The food industry is designed to make us eat as much as we can as often as we can. Although portion control is still number 1 soem of us have to know about say transfats for cholesterol and tryglicerides. I look first to transfats and then move up. When I ask for the leanest ground beef or roast I am usuallly directed to the stores mix for price. Stabilizing weight is difficult if you are sensitive to whole wheat products. I do find myself going away from meat more but the problem is I don't care for fish. Someday maybe all the nutrients we need will be in pill form and we can quit racking our brain.

I LIKE having the food labels. (My vision is still okay enough to read them usually.)
As the comment about food allergies, some foods, otherwise healthy for one person, might not be what another is targeting in their diet.