-Requires serving sizes to reflect what people actually eat. *COMMENT: Ok, sounds fine, but who gets to decide this? And is this really just another example of the Government picking up the slack of stupid people?
-Requires some packages to have the “Per Serving” info and the “Whole Package” info. *COMMENT: Ok, again, sounds fine. It’s convenient, but again, are we just picking up the slack for stupid people? Will it even really matter if that pint of Ben & Jerry’s shows 300 cals for 1 serving and says there is 4 servings? Has it made a difference in soda intake? I doubt it.
-Requires the specific amount of ADDED sugars. *COMMENT: I can get down with this. Although you could get an idea of how important added sugars are by taking a look at where it is placed in the ingredients list, but I can buy this one.
-2000 calorie baseline may be changed. *COMMENT: It’s stupid to begin with. Not teaching people to figure out what they need for themselves in their own situation.
-Estimated $2B in cost to the industry and a $20-30B SAVINGS for consumers. *COMMENT: Could the cost of implementation really be THAT MUCH. I mean you are talking about changing up some math, updating a computer file image, and then printing it out like you normally would. $2B seems like a huge stretch, but ok. The $20-30B in SAVINGS for consumers? How the hell do you come up with that? Do you think fat people will stop eating a whole pint of Ben and Jerry’s now? Shm!
All the required macro/calorie information is already on the label. People that can’t manage to figure out the current label are not going to be much better off with the new one, people that can, won’t have a problem adjusting.
Obesity should be seen as a serious threat to our nation. At the very least those of us who take care of ourselves should feel threatened. This is not a case of a small group of people being a burden on society but, very soon, a group that will be the majority. We are talking about a large number of people who will not be productive and contribute to the country but rather, via disability and a disproportionate amount of healthcare costs, they will be takers. If there is any bright side it’s that an entire industry will be created to cater to their needs.
Maybe this plan isn’t the best but at least the government isn’t ignoring the problem. A big obstacle to overcome is that you have people saying one has the right to eat whatever he wants in whatever amounts he wants and the nanny state should stay out of it. That sounds great especially when that person has the right to later collect disability. I guess you can call it a win-win.
Here’s a question: if people on welfare should get drug tested, because we need to control how they spend OUR money, should obese people on disability have some sort of checks in place to control what food they buy with OUR money? I know there is a difference between illegal drugs and legal food but the principle is the same if we look at the behaviors and the consequences for the individual and society.
The only change I would love is if they put the weight in grams or oz. They can keep saying a serving size is for example 3/4 of a cup but put the weight in parentheses. Serving Size: 3/4 cup (135 g). Hate having to weigh it out and keep a journal of weights for future reference.
The whole package info might be good for the things that are bad at less than half a gram like trans fats.
I think that they should list trans fats down to the milligram level.
I think that when they list sugars by different technical names, like dextrose, cane syrup, etc, they should have to group all of the sugars together when listing ingredients. A lot of foods will get 5 kinds of sugars listed as ingredients 4, 5, 6, 7, etc while in reality sugar is #1 or #2.
I would like to see Omega-6 grams and possibly grams of fructose.