Consumer Reports
.
The magazine hears from readers all the time who send food labels they find confusing. For example, the picture on the front of a Special K Fruit and Yogurt cereal box perplexed one reader. It shows strawberries, blueberries and raspberries along with the cereal.
There are no berries in the cereal, however. In fact, the only fruit in Special K Fruit and Yogurt cereal is pieces of flavored apple.
Two cans of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup confused another reader. The regular can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup states it has 1.5 grams of fat, but a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup -- Healthy Request has 2 grams of fat. Testers found that the term "healthy" refers to sodium and cholesterol.
On the old label of Land O' Lakes whipped butter, a tablespoon used to be 9 grams, but on the new label, a tablespoon is 7 grams. A reader wanted to know when a tablespoon shrank?
Leslie Ware of
Consumer Reports
got an answer from the butter-maker.
"What Land O' Lakes said is that they whipped more air into the butter, so there's actually less butter per tablespoon, but more air," she said.
If you are confused by a food label, the Food and Drug Administration can help.
The Center For Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
can find out what claims are allowed on food labels as well as provide a guide to understanding nutrition labels.
Copyright 2024 by WRAL.com and the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
