Food labels are an important part of business, both in terms of reducing a company’s liability and educating consumers. However, a processed food item can have more than just one label or informative note on its packaging. What happens when these multiple pieces of information are misleading, or worse, seem to outright contradict each other? It’s a question brought into focus by a recent letter to the Boston Globe Consumer Alert section, detailing a situation that many could find themselves in.
The letter, from Ben Myers, describes his confusion at a frozen turkey product that seems to have a higher fat content described in the “nutrition facts” than elsewhere displayed. The response, from contributor Mitch Lipka, explains that the nutrition facts will describe the percentage of calories that each different element of the product contains, while other noticeable labels refer to the fat content of the total unit’s weight. But some packaging can make this difficult to understand, especially by invoking percentage numbers without explaining the larger context.
Food companies can attempt to solve this problem in a number of ways. They can opt for clearer language, put the relevant nutritional information in a visible place or design the labels so as to encourage consumers to simply read the ingredients instead of just taking the product at face value. In any event, important items like calorie content can be referenced effectively through the use of good, visible labels, and producers of such items can take advantage of a color label printer that allows for equal space on the both front and back of the item.
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