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ARTICLE: Ask the Food Doc: Food labels have become confusing

The following is an excerpt of a column from the Food Doc, a columnist for the Lincoln (NE) Journal-Star about various items on a food label that you might find confusing. 

Dear Food Doc: I have become vigilant about reading food labels, especially calorie and fat content. Is it just me or is there now a lot more information on food labels than ever before? It can be very confusing.

Dear Reader: Consider that from the beginning of time into the 20th century, transactions between food sellers and buyers relied on trust. Trust that the product was safe, wholesome and had the expected weight or volume.

When foods first began to be mass-produced in cans, bottles and other packages, food labels became necessary. They stated the bare minimum -- name, quantity and manufacturer. No ingredients, no regulations.

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Perhaps the most common front-of-package labels are those that boldly declare the absence of particular ingredients. No trans fat! No cholesterol! No GMOs!

Although there is nothing untruthful about these declarations, they can sometimes border on deceptive. Trans fats, for example, have nearly disappeared in foods ever since the FDA decided not to recognize them as safe.

“No cholesterol” was actually one of the first “no” labels. Cholesterol, however, is only present in animal products, so the no cholesterol claim for vegetable oil or peanut butter is meaningless.

According to food psychologists, the absence of these ingredients confers a halo effect. Thus, if made without trans fat or cholesterol, those sugar-laden cupcakes might be viewed by consumers as healthy.

Then there is the case of Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs. Despite broad consensus from nearly every major scientific and medical organization attesting to their safety, the “no GMOs” or “non-GMO” tags are in nearly every aisle. This label is also applied on hundreds of products for which GMO versions do not even exist.

For example, “no GMOs” labels are often stamped on packages of flour, canned tomatoes, peanut butter, orange juice and ready-to-eat lettuce. This, despite the fact that there is no FDA-approved wheat, tomatoes, peanuts, oranges or lettuce in the marketplace.

To read this column in full, please visit the Lincoln Journal-Star website.