Food labeling in restaurants could be ineffective

Researchers at the University of Vermont say that significant numbers of people don’t review food labels, and many don’t know how to use the information that is there.

In a Market Research program over 900 calls were made to 600 adults and 300 college students. Researchers found that one-third of adults do not look at the labels, while more than half of college students ignore them. Here are some results:

•  Two-thirds of the participants were unable to identify the number of calories they should consume in a day.

•  Forty-four to 57 percent of the whole sample said they were not likely to use restaurant food caloric information if it was provided.

The study suggests that labeling restaurant foods may not be the best way to educate people about nutrition.

“While it is always better for consumers to have access to more rather than less information, these preliminary results indicate that public health efforts to control obesity perhaps should first focus on an education campaign designed to teach appropriate calorie intake values and food label reading skills to the general public,” researchers say. The results were published  in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 

Restaurant consultants, and eating trend Gurus, The Next Idea, see things differently: In a comment to the media, The Next Idea’s CEO was reported to say ‘its not so much about labeling food, its about the food itself………………the consumer needs to be far more inquisitive about the source of the product than the product itself’ ………………’The US consumer has opted for convenience foods but it has been at an incalculable price, the time is now to work with the food industry to develop fast food that is actually healthy…………..equally;  the consumer must be given access to, not just  nutritional information, but honest information about the source of the ingredients”