I saw a box of fat free muffins for sale in a supermarket and was surprised
to read that the serving size was half a muffin. I called the company for
clarification and, after talking to their lawyers, they explained to me
that if the amount of fat in the serving size is less than half a gram,
the FDA allows them to round it down to zero and call the product fat
free. So, the notion of something being fat free depends on the serving
size. If the serving size had been a whole muffin, it would not be legal
to call it fat free. This also shows that the serving size does not have
to be related to what one might naively consider to be a normal serving size.

I think that is misleading and I would prefer it if the FDA required companies
to say how much saturated and unsaturated fat there is in 1000 muffins so that
the consumer could have a more accurate idea of fat content of all kinds.
If one consumes 30 servings per day of nominally fat free food, one doesn't
know whether one is consuming 0 grams of fat or 15 grams, and that isn't just
a matter of weight control: some people have to avoid fats to keep their
blood cholesterol down to prevent strokes and heart attacks.

When one buys a nominally fat free muffin in a coffee shop, one naturally
assumes that the serving size is a whole muffin but I don't know if there
are any regulations at all pertaining to calling something fat free when
it is served in a coffee shop or any restaurant. If someone does know about
that, I'd like to know more about it. I also don't know if restaurants are
required to have nutritionists available to answer nutritional questions or
whether they have to file any nutritional information about their menu,
but I doubt it.

In the absence of anyone to ask about it, suppose one wants to have a muffin
tested to determine its fat content, both saturated and unsaturated. What
kind of lab does one take the muffin to and how much should one expect to
have to pay for the analysis?

Ignorantly,
Allan Adler


************************************************** **************************
* *
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT Artificial *
* Intelligence Lab. My actions and comments do not reflect *
* in any way on MIT. Moreover, I am nowhere near the Boston *
* metropolitan area. *
* *
************************************************** **************************

"Allan Adler" > wrote in message
...
|
| I saw a box of fat free muffins for sale in a supermarket and was
surprised
| to read that the serving size was half a muffin. I called the company for
| clarification and, after talking to their lawyers, they explained to me
| that if the amount of fat in the serving size is less than half a gram,
| the FDA allows them to round it down to zero and call the product fat
| free. So, the notion of something being fat free depends on the serving
| size. If the serving size had been a whole muffin, it would not be legal
| to call it fat free. This also shows that the serving size does not have
| to be related to what one might naively consider to be a normal serving
size.

It's even better... those claims of 98% fat free and the like? Usually they
measure on weight or volume and not on actual calories (If you do, you'll
get a real shock). Now take a look at the ingredients of your favorite low
calorie junk food. Do you see any hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated
oils (soybean, canola, palm, coconut, etc.)? They learned how to make a
'good' fat bad. The trans fatty acids are known to be real killers but the
regulations to bring it to light on packaging won't even take effect until
2006 (must take that long to figure out how to make all that stuff without
tfa's). If you spend any time studying this stuff you will end up cooking
all your own foods from your own garden (and even then you aren't totally
safe from all the food-borne problems).