Do you trust food labels?

I have become a master at reading labels on all the food items I buy at the store. In the back of my mind, I worry that while I am measuring my serving sizes & weighing my proteins, etc. that foods may be labeled incorrectly. Paranoid, probably, but I do remember watching a special years ago. The report was about how a company may be off on their facts by 30%! I know that I will continue to count my calories but just wanted to see what you guys think.

Wed. Sep 5, 10:37am

Yeah who knows....the way to get around this is to eat food as it comes from nature and keep the processed foods to a minimum. I try to cook many of the things I eat so I know what really went into it. The food supply issues are dicey and there are no guarantees about much of anything. There is legislation but I would trust my own eye more than I would trust a company which is trying to fit some predecided notion of what is the current trend for "healthy food".

Wednesday, September 5, 2007, 11:01 AM

I only buy foods that are so basic and low on the food chain that they don't come with labels. It helps to buy your fruits, veggies, grains and meat from a CSA organic & free range farm if you can afford it. That's as close as you're gonna get to un-fooled-around-with foods.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007, 1:09 PM

The closest I'm coming to that is Trader Joe's currently. I guess I should do some research. Thanks.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007, 1:41 PM

I saw something recently (Food Network? Discovery Channel? not sure) about how scientists figure out how many calories, etc., are in specific foods. It mentioned that you can actually have them test food for you, for about $30 or so an item. So, if there are particular items that you're concerned about, or you eat very often, maybe that'd be worth it for you.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007, 2:29 PM

What really drives me nuts is when two brands of the same product give different caloric values. For instance, how many calories are in a cup of organic skim milk? 90 according to one label, and 80 according to another. Maybe some milk has more protein in it compared to other milk? It's just weird.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007, 3:39 PM

The only thing I have measured so far is bread, rolls. But they will state they are so many grams and some are the right amount and some have been off by quite a few grams. I don't know how much that throws off the calorie count but it is very frustrating.

I read an article once that talked about one place that gave a calorie amount for a muffin I think it was and when it was tested it was actually twice the calories than were stated.
Makes me wonder.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007, 9:17 PM

Thank you for your thoughts. Scary & frustrating.

Thursday, September 6, 2007, 11:36 AM

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