Mon, Mar-29-04, 16:31
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Flutterby
Posts: 2,270
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Plan: All that make sense
Stats: 220/212/160
BF:
Progress: 13%
Location: Atlanta, GA
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::waves::: Hi Karen!! 
I posted this on another thread, thought you all might be interested. It concerns food labeling.
I have read that manufacturer's actually are allowed a 20% margin of error. Many fall in the 5% range.
Quote:
Florida is one of the only states that tests food products to see whether the contents match the statements on the label. And when the state finds offenders, it often does no more than send a letter of complaint. At times, that results in a revised label.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last surveyed nutritional labels five years ago. It found inaccuracies in one of every 10 products - and called that excellent results.
With hundreds of thousands of products on the shelves, that means tens of thousands of those could be misleading consumers.
Variances Allowed: In general, a food company's claims have to be wrong by more than 30% to fail tests for nutrition content.
Federal law allows most products a 20% variance from the label; a product that says it has 200 calories can legally have 240. A cereal said to contain 10 grams of fiber would be OK even if it really had eight.
In addition, government food labs will account for a margin of error in testing of up to 10%.
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