FDA Plans to Change Nutritional Labels

In another effort to combat our nation’s growing obesity issue, the Food and Drug Administration is looking to make some radical changes to food packaging…including putting labels on the fronts of packages and make serving size information clearer for consumers.

Serving sizes now aren’t in sync with how much Americans really eat, so the calorie counts are oftentimes misleading. My making serving sizes more realistic and posting the calorie counts for a ‘real’ serving on the front of a package, the FDA hopes to sticker shock people and create awareness.

For example, the New York Times points out that most potato chips suggest a 1oz serving size — which usually is around six chips. Most people eat 2 – 3 times that amount without realizing that they’re actually consuming 2 – 3 times the calories and fat noted on the label.

What do you think? Will clearer and blatant packaging help Americans eat less?