The FDA needs to become stricter with ingredient requirements in order to prevent unknown chemicals and unknown substances. It's time we know what's in our food!
You shouldn’t believe everything you read, especially when it comes to the labels on your food. Companies are able to mislead consumers by advertising healthier foods when in actuality their products contain completely different amounts of vitamins, carbohydrates, sugar, protein, fat- both saturated and unsaturated, sodium, cholesterol and various other ingredients.
The FDA, or Food and Drug Administration, establishes guidelines restricting the claims and descriptions manufacturers may use in labeling their food and trying to promote their products. These specifications are both too lenient and easily avoidable. Food manufacturers have many tricky ways around these restrictions on false advertising and the regulation of ingredients.
One such way manufacturers deceive the public is by advertising a certain food product as fat-free, when in reality it contains fat. Now the FDA specifies that in order for fat to have to be listed in the nutrition facts on the back of a product, there must be a significant amount, anything less does not have to be mentioned. The FDA’s policy regarding fat content is that if the food product contains more than 0.5 grams of fat, then it must be listed. To comply with this regulation, manufacturers alter the servings per container. With more servings, there is a reduced serving size, making the product appear healthier with less fat. If the fat content is less than .5 grams it can even be rounded down, so consumers see the product having 0 grams of fat, when in actuality it contains a significant amount of fat. So the next time you see a product with a large bold “FAT FREE!” on the label question it, because it most likely still contains some amount of fat.
Whether you’re strictly following a diet that completely cuts our carbs, or just trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle, the nutrition facts on the back of food are very important to you. One might even say that the health information obtained from food labels help to guide a person’s entire day; planning meals and what snacks to munch on. With misleading labels, people are ingesting unknown quantities of various ingredients which can prevent effective weight loss. The main focus of many diets is to monitor what you’re actually eating and be aware of what you put in your body, but with so many misleading labels how can this truly be done?
Another thing buyers must keep in mind is their medical history and overall health needs. Someone who is diabetic for example should not be tricked into eating sugar, because manufacturers figured out sneaky ways to get around the FDA’s regulations when it comes to false advertising of food ingredients. Consumers need to be careful and make sure to read the labels as thoroughly as possible, paying close attention to serving size and amount of servings contained within.
It’s time to know once and for all what we are consuming!
