The "Free" Label
Many food labels broadcast methods such as “No Hormones Added” that might seem to the average consumer like an improvement, but actually causes more welfare, sustainability, or food safety hazards. As frustrating as it is that the problems food manufactures are claiming to solve are actually worsened by their methods (for example, organic foods are advertised to be safer from contaminants, but The Journal of Food Protection published a study in November of 2016 that tracked chronic outbreaks of foodborne illnesses caused by organic products), these food labels aren’t actually lying to consumers, so much as misleading them. However, there is one type of food label I’ve yet to touch on that does blatantly lie to shoppers.
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Photo from www.cosozo.com
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What I like to call the “free” labels (but might also feature words such as “zero,” “no,” or “without”) say that they do not contain a certain nutrient when they really do:
The good news is that it’s not going to take multiple trips to farms, extensive conversations with producers, and hours combing through studies to determine what the true amount of the nutrient present is (vs. all of those things really are necessary to see if many other products, such as foods labeled “Kosher” or “Raised Without Added Hormones,” meet your expectations or are really improvements on conventional methods). It only takes one simple peak at the nutrition label to see through these claims.
- Calorie free means the substance contains less than 5 calories per labeled serving
- Fat free means less than .5 grams of total fat per labeled serving
- Saturated fat free means less than .5 grams of saturated fat and/or less than .5 grams of trans fats per labeled serving
- Cholesterol free means less than 2 mg of cholesterol per labeled serving
- Sodium free means less than 5 mg of sodium per labeled serving
- Sugar free means less than .5 grams of sugar per labeled serving
The good news is that it’s not going to take multiple trips to farms, extensive conversations with producers, and hours combing through studies to determine what the true amount of the nutrient present is (vs. all of those things really are necessary to see if many other products, such as foods labeled “Kosher” or “Raised Without Added Hormones,” meet your expectations or are really improvements on conventional methods). It only takes one simple peak at the nutrition label to see through these claims.
I’m not writing this post to drive people away from foods labeled “___ free.” In fact, the USDA approved these claims because the substances present are found only in negligible amounts, meaning the food is undoubtedly healthier than conventional products or products with “low ____” labels. My point is that food manufacturers use these labels to make their products seem more appealing even though they’re knowingly misleading consumers.
The area where this really becomes a problem is for people who count macros or are on very strict diets. If people take the brightly colored labels on the front at face value and don’t take the time to flip the box over and read that tiny, monochrome font on the back, they are being pushed a little bit further away from their diet goals every single meal. 1.9 grams of cholesterol might not seem like that much, but it would be very easy for a person to make three meals a day, each made up of 4-5 ingredients labeled “Cholesterol Free.” All of a sudden, the “no cholesterol ever” diet prescribed to them by their doctor turns into over 25 grams of cholesterol every day. Moral of the story? Know the facts, and realize that every single claim on the front of that package was strategically placed there to take your money. |
Photo from www.fda.gov
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