Re: updated Swedish food labels

Karel wrote:

> This whole 'information chain'
> is in development at the moment
> and it is likely that there
> will be European/US regulations
> related to this. I hope that
> there will be difference between
> 'must appear on the package' and
> 'you can find more information
> on the following website: ...'.

Yes, I agree. I know people who already complain that they can't get 
their supermarket shopping done in under an hour as it is, no matter 
what kind of speed-ups they introduce into their routine. Such people 
are not going to willingly read the "whole 'information chain'" 
attaching to every item purchased (not to mention all the items we 
reject when making a selection because of this or that "bad" number ;-).

Nor do they want to be inundated with so much negative information 
that it begins to seem as though none of the small steps & actions 
each of us can take will make any difference, so why even bother?

Nor do any of us want to have to attend to masses of impenetrable data 
or forever live with the guilt of being an uninformed shopper who 
inadvertently risks the health of loved ones -- not to mention the 
entire planet -- just by purchasing the basic necessities of life. ;-)

So I, too, think this is clearly a case where well-designed 
information tiers are an imperative.

That said, there are some dangers with the out-of-context information 
selected for printing on packaging -- yet another hidden contributor 
to a product's carbon footprint (so do we calculate and display the 
carbon emissions generated from all the packaging/printing, too?).

It's tough enough to standardize with mass-produced, regulated & 
controlled foods. (I assume I'm not the only one who is continually 
frustrated when trying to comparison-shop by inconsistent serving 
sizes and measurement schemes ... speaking of which, did anyone notice 
that the 2 labels for my Swedish Krisprolls, even when accounting for 
their different serving sizes, have widely varying values for sodium?)

But the sense of unwavering, universal truth we get from numbers on 
printed labels is even more in error when it comes to restaurant fare 
and home cooking, which is always situationally specific, with big 
fudge factors that most of us do not adjust for. E.g., a January 2010 
study of 29 restaurant dishes and 10 frozen dinners promoted as "the 
lower-calorie choices" at Boston-area eateries and groceries in the 
U.S. turned up major discrepancies between printed claims and reality 
(the restaurant selections averaged 18% more calories than claimed, 
while the frozen meals averaged 8% extra calories). Even though

	"Most of the packaged foods were within the 20% margin of
	error [!] allowed by the FDA."

7 of the restaurant foods and 3 of the frozen dinners contained up to 
double the calories listed on the menu or label. (Pizza lovers might 
want to know that Domino's large thin-crust cheese pizza "actually 
came in low," with one-third fewer than the promised 180 calories per 
serving. ;-)

Considering that only 5% extra calories per day for an individual 
requiring 2,000 calories per day "could lead to a 10-pound weight gain 
in a single year," I'd say 20% is a pretty significant margin of error.


It does seem to me that there is a business opportunity here: some 
enterprising soul(s) might want to develop a series of apps and/or an 
informational website which those of us who provide products & 
services (including anyone who cooks a meal) can use to make 
situation-specific calculations of the real effects on human & climate 
health of everything we produce and/or consume.

Who knows? Perhaps this sort of tool could even bring back the "bake 
sale," which has been regulated out of existence in some public school 
districts in the U.S. (e.g., New York) because homemade goods don't 
list nutritional content.

According to an article in the _Los Angeles Times_ for 21 March 2010:

	"Homemade spinach pies are out; packaged baked potato chips
	are in. Mom's pumpkin bread is out; Kellogg's Pop-Tarts are
	in -- but they must be the whole-grain brown-sugar cinnamon
	variety.

	"At public school bake sales, Pop-Tarts are among 29 items the
	Department of Education has deemed nutritionally sound enough
	to sell in lieu of homemade goods, which have been banned in
	part because they do not list nutritional content.

	"Parents say the regulation, issued last month [Feb. 2010],
	pushes kids to eat processed food and undercuts parental
	efforts to teach nutrition at home by outlawing homemade
	goodies like organic popcorn balls and vegan cookies, which
	they argue are healthier than anything housed in a vending
	machine.

	"'What's the message we're sending here? That highly
	processed foods are healthier than food cooked at home,' said
	Elizabeth Puccini, the mother of two elementary school pupils
	in Manhattan.

	"'You're bound to create a lifetime of bad eating habits with
	that,' said Puccini, who organized a 'bake-in' outside City
	Hall on Thursday to protest the rules.

	"Even by New York standards, it was an unusual gathering.
	Scores of parents, teachers and children banged wooden spoons,
	whisks, sifters and pots and pans while chanting, 'Read our
	lips, no more chips!' and waving signs reading, 'Save our
	bake sales' and 'Pure, not processed.'

	"Protesters set up two tables laden with goods. One featured
	banned items: plates of mini-empanadas, vanilla cupcakes with
	pale pink icing, and pumpkin bread among them. The other
	showed what is permitted, such as bags of low-fat Doritos,
	granola bars and packaged cookies.

	"The Department of Education says the regulations are aimed
	at combating obesity among the city's more than 1.1 million
	public school children, about 40% of whom are overweight. By
	restricting bake sale offerings to goods limited in calories
	and wrapped in packaging that lists nutritional information,
	schools will help children reduce their intake of unhealthy
	snacks, officials say.

	"Among the approved items: Glenny's Brown Rice Marshmallow
	Treats, baked cheddar and sour cream chips and a variety of
	granola bars, popcorn clusters and cookies. None has more
	than 200 calories or 200 milligrams of sodium per serving.
	The Pop-Tarts weigh in at 200 calories each.

	"But critics say the numbers are beside the point because the
	rule discourages home-baking practices that teach children to
	value fresh food and give people a reason to go to a bake
	sale, which can bring in several hundred dollars to pay for
	extras such as field trips and school supplies.

	"'Why would you go to a bake sale to buy baked potato chips?'
	said Mitzi Dulan, a nutritionist and registered dietitian
	whose clients include the Kansas City Chiefs football team
	and the Royals baseball team. A better plan would be to offer
	parents recipes for healthier snacks to sell, she said.

	"David Cantor, the education department's spokesman, said the
	city was simply in line with a nationwide effort to combat
	childhood obesity, which First Lady Michelle Obama has made
	one of her priorities.

	"'We restrict sales of homemade food because we cannot monitor
	its nutritional value,' Cantor said, adding that 'homemade is
	not synonymous with heathful.' A recent photo of items at a
	bake sale showed a sign for bacon chocolate-chip cookies, he
	said.

	"But Dulan, as well as parents and teachers, said it's more
	important to look at what goes into the food. The mini-
	empanadas had the most ingredients, at 19, including spinach,
	tofu, cilantro, lime juice, and black beans. Compare that
	with the Pop-Tart, with 27 ingredients, including riboflavin,
	polydextrose and high-fructose corn syrup.

	"'I'd rather eat something higher in calories that doesn't
	contain a bunch of chemicals I can't pronounce,' said
	Stephanie Seitman, a high school English teacher.
	
	"New York isn't the first school district to take on child
	weight problems, but with 1,500 public schools, it is the
	biggest and among the most influential in the country,
	and it appears to have gone further than others with the
	latest regulations.

	"Puccini, however, said school cafeterias continue to dish out
	sugary, processed food. 'Why are we suddenly picking on bake
	sales as opposed to looking at the things that are available
	every single day?' she said, rejecting the notion that
	whole-grain Pop Tarts foster good health.

	"'In the end,' she said 'it's still a Pop-Tart.'"

Better yet, it might help the math-challenged among us develop some 
much-needed statistical (and nutritional) literacy.

And that can only be a good thing,
<vbg>
Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
[email protected]






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