• Thorry@feddit.org
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    2 days ago

    In civilized countries the nutrition facts need to be stated in both serving size and 100 grams. This makes it easier to compare products with different serving sizes and also prevents bullshit like this.

    • Noxy@pawb.social
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      4 hours ago

      the first time I saw a nutrition label like that was, I think, in Ireland. Absolutely blew my mind how staggeringly useful it was in comparing different foods since there’s that common quantity across all of them.

      I really wish we had that in the US.

      • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Serving size has a lot of use cases, especially when looking at things individually packaged or in separate units (cookies for example).

        Per 100g has fewer use cases in my mind as I’m not a scale and have no idea how to break down most products into 100g.

        • Fushuan [he/him]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          16 hours ago

          You do the other way around, you see the total weight of the thing, you guesstimate how much you are gonna eat and you do the math. Half of 500g is 250, so x2.5 whatever is on the 100g nutritional panel.

          It’s not about when you would use the per 100g it’s about 100g being easy to be transformed into other units so you get an easy multiplier you can apply to the values.

          • LongDickJonsson@lemmy.world
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            5 hours ago

            I always used the 100g as percentage since the rest of the nutrients is also listed as g. So if there is 9g of protein per 100g, then i can just make an easy approximation for whatever the serving is.

        • despoticruin@lemmy.zip
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          20 hours ago

          If you are American it’s about 4oz, and if you want a visual with most foods that is roughly a cubic inch of food per ounce. It’s not exact but it’s close enough to understand when applied to stuff like oil and butter alongside cotton candy or dry crackers where the densities and amounts used dramatically differ.

    • hOrni@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      That’s how it is stated in civilized countries. This is American bullshit. You wouldn’t get a serving size on something like oil either.

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          No it’s not, oil does not have a “serving size”.
          Thorry wrote both would be required, but when there is no “serving size” it would only be the 100g stated on the label.
          Generally here (Denmark) we never see “serving size” because it’s bullshit, and probably considered misleading.
          And misleading labeling and marketing is illegal.

          • CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de
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            1 day ago

            There is a point to having both - or at least giving an idea of how much an item typically weighs. One cookie might be 200g or 50g; people may typically reach for 1-5 cookies, for example.

            A misleading serving size (eg “per 1/4 cookie”) is indeed not helpful at all, but I don’t think it’s illegal.

            • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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              1 day ago

              So many single-use packets which barely contain enough for half a meal, yet say “contains 2 servings” so they can halve all the numbers on the nutrition label. Yes, this is in america.

              • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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                1 day ago

                They had to stop doing this for drinks (at least). They now show the whole bottle contents and sometimes also servings for some sizes.

              • athatet@lemmy.zip
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                1 day ago

                I don’t think a serving is supposed to be a meal. Pretty sure it’s talking about like, the food pyramid. It’s not a thing anymore but you gotta get a certain amount of grains and fruit and veg and dairy and you count the amounts by serving size.

              • arrow74@lemmy.zip
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                1 day ago

                Okay, but let’s say you have 35g of sauce. It’s labeled as 2 servings that equal x calories. Easy math to figure out what you ate.

                When 100g is x calories and you have to do the math it’s a bit more annoying. Even worse when you have to break out the scale.

    • protist@retrofed.com
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      1 day ago

      I just have to disagree. On a product like this, if the nutrition facts for 100g are listed, then you’re going to have to do the math re: how much you’re actually going to use. Having it measured out in a realistic serving size makes more sense to me.

      There’s also pretty much no issue comparing products, as products in the same category usually all have the same serving sizes.

      Cooking spray just happens to be used so sparingly that its nutritional value when used appropriately is usually negligible

      • Thorry@feddit.org
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        1 day ago

        Oh no! Imagine having to do extremely simple maths… It’s calculus, hardly maths at all.

        The whole point is the “realistic serving size” is a myth. It’s like buying a bag of 30 sweets and having the serving size be 3 sweets. You know I’m going to eat the whole fucking bag in 1 go, so I would like to know the actual nutrition facts.

        And like I said, usually both are on the packaging, but the 100 gram one is required by law. And depending on where you live there are laws regarding the serving size as well and it may be required.

        • _chris@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Sorry, most people in the US can’t divide. The majority stop retaining around subtraction, and that’s giving the benefit of the doubt.

          I know people who whip out the calculator for 9+13.

            • _chris@lemmy.world
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              21 hours ago

              It’s written on the receipts. And when it isn’t, whip out the calculator.

          • arrow74@lemmy.zip
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            1 day ago

            It’s not even that the labels are sometimes cryptic. Like sure I have 400g of cheese, but how many grams is a single slice? This information is not included on the brand I buy, nor the number of slices.

            So I either have to weigh a slice of cheese or count out the number of slices. Then do the math.

            In the US it simply says 1 slice is x calories.

            I won’t understand this backwards sense of pride in shitty labeling.

            • wols@lemmy.zip
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              17 hours ago

              Ideally nutritional facts would be given both per 100g and per some reasonable serving size (as well as clearly specifying the serving size), but if I can only have one give me 100g.
              Note that while only the 100g figures are required by law, most products in Europe include the ones for serving size as well, so I’m not sure what shitty labeling people are supposedly prideful of.
              Personally I would also like a section for figures per the entire package but that’s exceedingly rare.

              US labeling is perhaps more convenient more often, but it also frequently misleads/hides information from the consumer which I think is much worse.

              • arrow74@lemmy.zip
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                11 hours ago

                most products in Europe include the ones for serving size as well

                Disagree at least in the case of Germany. It is 50/50 at best. Although almost every food item I’ve seen in France has both

        • False@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          If it’s in the form of a spray, and I’m spraying it onto the cooking surface rather than the food, then yeah. I’d probably spray for like 2 seconds and only a fraction of that would actually end up on the food.

          • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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            1 day ago

            I’d probably spray for like 2 seconds

            I’d hate to break it to you, but that’s already 8 servings according to the label…

            • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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              1 day ago

              and only a fraction of that would actually end up on the food.

              Further, if you’re cooking, you’re probably making more than one serving at a time. 2-4 servings in the pan, and only consuming a fraction of what was initially sprayed, 1/4-second spray per serving is about right.

      • kungen@feddit.nu
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        1 day ago

        then you’re going to have to do the math re: how much you’re actually going to use

        Sure, you’re probably going to spray a couple seconds at the most, which would be like less than 30 kcal. Basically nothing that you’d really count, unless you’re on a super-strict diet.

        But the problem is that it’s misleading. Uneducated shoppers might choose that brand specifically because “I’m on a diet”, instead of buying a cheaper non-spray version. And/or proceed to put a ton on their food, without realizing avocado oil is almost 900kcal/100g.

        “usually all have the same” isn’t fully true either in my experience. Are you really going to eat just 1/3 of a candy bar? It says 100 calories in big letters, surely it’d be much healthier than the avocado oil bottle that says 120 calories per serving.

        “Serving size” numbers are bullshit and should be banned.

        • purplemonkeymad@programming.dev
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          1 day ago

          I’ve told people that it’s a percentage but they have a hard time understanding that and insisted on doing it from the serving size still.

      • gandalf_der_13te@feddit.org
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        1 day ago

        the thing is that different people use different serving sizes. – written by somebody who pours lots of oil over salad.

      • 🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        then you’re going to have to do the math

        Why? It’s listed in both, so you know a spray is close to zero. If you’re using more than a couple or few sprays, you’re doing it wrong, so what’s even a few sprays? 5 calories?

        Your measuring inaccuracy on other ingredients is going to be WILDLY more than the calories from the oil. Baking and spray the baking sheet? When you measured your flour, did you get it to the nearest TENTH of a gram? Because a gram of flour is like 3.5 calories, so if you were off by a single gram - or your scale doesn’t even show decigrams, then the rounding error is likely more calories than the oil you use that adds to each ‘serving’ of the thing you’re making.

        So this is extremely unimportant.