Responding to yesterday’s piece about nutrition labels being required next year for various cuts of meat, one MNB user wrote:
As great as it sounds but there is a problem with putting Nutrition Facts on raw “commodity” foods like ground beef and chicken breast.
Let’s sort of use your example: 70/30 ground beef (you used a 73/27).
Raw at 4 oz serving is 372 calories, 304 from fat. But who eats raw ground beef? Once its broiler cooked the same 4 oz serving becomes 304 calories, 184 from fat. 120 calories from fat gone. Big difference.
People are going to be making a choice based on how it is RAW. It’s not realistic. The act of cooking plus its cooking method changes the nutritional value. THAT is what we need to get to people so they can make wise choices. Who cares in the raw state since I am not consuming it raw.
But how do you put all the info based on cooking options on a label????
There has to be a better way. Kiosk in the stores, maybe?
But another MNB user wrote:
Actually most retailers have been supplying this information for quite some time. It has been a voluntary program for I believe over 10 years now, and I have read that over 70% of all retailers have this information posted in their stores currently. In fact I would guess that it is posted in the stores that you shop somewhere on or around the meat case. Most retailers use placards with the most common cuts on them with all of the nutritional information included, there is one for beef, pork, ground beef, chicken and even lamb and veal. Take a look around the next time you are shopping and I am sure that you will find them. Making this mandatory will just make the remaining retailers that have not posted this information have to do what the rest of us have been doing for a long time now.
And, regarding calories counts being required for chain restaurants in California, one MNB user wrote:
We have a Jack-in-the Box about a mile from where I live. While I don’t go there often, maybe 3 or 4 times a year, there are occasions when we need a little something to eat in a hurry and head that direction. I happened to run in to get my wife and I something to eat a few days ago, and they already had the nutritional information on the menu board. I have to tell you I have mixed feelings. Is it the right thing for us to know what we are eating? Absolutely. I really didn’t know what I wanted to eat before I got there. However, after SEEING the information right there for each item, I was in a little bit of shock! While I thought about a burger perhaps, when I saw the amount of fat and calories, I couldn’t do it. There was no way I was going to enjoy eating that, knowing what was going into my system. And forget about any fries to go with it. And there lies the problem! I don’t eat there often and while I always knew it wasn’t the healthiest thing I could eat, if I didn’t see it, I could claim ignorance (at least in my mind so I could enjoy eating it!). I stood there for what must have been 5 or 6 minutes staring at the menu board trying to figure out if there was anything there I could feel good about eating. I ended up getting this little pita pocket chicken snack thingy – and ate it, but didn’t really enjoy that either.
It took me a while, but I think I have figured out what to do next time… find a drive through so I don’t have to see that what I am about to eat may just kill me!
On the subject of online holiday shopping, one MNB user wrote:
Ditto on the positive on line experience for the holidays. Orvis came through with on time deliveries to 3 different locations, iGourmet delivered hard to find items for my goat cheese loving wife, and Wine Country did baskets for close relatives. Razorgator even got me Miami Heat ticket for a bored wedding party stuck in Florida on a 50 degree day (Lebron and company beat the Knicks). All done from airline clubs while traveling to 8 different offices for year end meetings. These would have been hard to pull off with in person shopping. I have always assumed that all the Black Friday craziness has had the unintended consequence of driving people to online shopping. Do you really want to be part of that mob?
Not me. Not ever.
As great as it sounds but there is a problem with putting Nutrition Facts on raw “commodity” foods like ground beef and chicken breast.
Let’s sort of use your example: 70/30 ground beef (you used a 73/27).
Raw at 4 oz serving is 372 calories, 304 from fat. But who eats raw ground beef? Once its broiler cooked the same 4 oz serving becomes 304 calories, 184 from fat. 120 calories from fat gone. Big difference.
People are going to be making a choice based on how it is RAW. It’s not realistic. The act of cooking plus its cooking method changes the nutritional value. THAT is what we need to get to people so they can make wise choices. Who cares in the raw state since I am not consuming it raw.
But how do you put all the info based on cooking options on a label????
There has to be a better way. Kiosk in the stores, maybe?
But another MNB user wrote:
Actually most retailers have been supplying this information for quite some time. It has been a voluntary program for I believe over 10 years now, and I have read that over 70% of all retailers have this information posted in their stores currently. In fact I would guess that it is posted in the stores that you shop somewhere on or around the meat case. Most retailers use placards with the most common cuts on them with all of the nutritional information included, there is one for beef, pork, ground beef, chicken and even lamb and veal. Take a look around the next time you are shopping and I am sure that you will find them. Making this mandatory will just make the remaining retailers that have not posted this information have to do what the rest of us have been doing for a long time now.
And, regarding calories counts being required for chain restaurants in California, one MNB user wrote:
We have a Jack-in-the Box about a mile from where I live. While I don’t go there often, maybe 3 or 4 times a year, there are occasions when we need a little something to eat in a hurry and head that direction. I happened to run in to get my wife and I something to eat a few days ago, and they already had the nutritional information on the menu board. I have to tell you I have mixed feelings. Is it the right thing for us to know what we are eating? Absolutely. I really didn’t know what I wanted to eat before I got there. However, after SEEING the information right there for each item, I was in a little bit of shock! While I thought about a burger perhaps, when I saw the amount of fat and calories, I couldn’t do it. There was no way I was going to enjoy eating that, knowing what was going into my system. And forget about any fries to go with it. And there lies the problem! I don’t eat there often and while I always knew it wasn’t the healthiest thing I could eat, if I didn’t see it, I could claim ignorance (at least in my mind so I could enjoy eating it!). I stood there for what must have been 5 or 6 minutes staring at the menu board trying to figure out if there was anything there I could feel good about eating. I ended up getting this little pita pocket chicken snack thingy – and ate it, but didn’t really enjoy that either.
It took me a while, but I think I have figured out what to do next time… find a drive through so I don’t have to see that what I am about to eat may just kill me!
On the subject of online holiday shopping, one MNB user wrote:
Ditto on the positive on line experience for the holidays. Orvis came through with on time deliveries to 3 different locations, iGourmet delivered hard to find items for my goat cheese loving wife, and Wine Country did baskets for close relatives. Razorgator even got me Miami Heat ticket for a bored wedding party stuck in Florida on a 50 degree day (Lebron and company beat the Knicks). All done from airline clubs while traveling to 8 different offices for year end meetings. These would have been hard to pull off with in person shopping. I have always assumed that all the Black Friday craziness has had the unintended consequence of driving people to online shopping. Do you really want to be part of that mob?
Not me. Not ever.
- KC's View:
