INTRODUCTION:
You are what you eat, but what are we eating? Many laws have been passed for companies to be more specific on their nutrition labels for consumers to understand and be able to see what they are eating, the problem is that, us, as customers, do not pay attention to what we eat due to a lack of time or other daily hassles.
CLAIM #1:
Nutrition labels are made to help consumers know what they are consuming but instead of helping them it only confuses them even more. “Fear. It's one of the most powerful human emotions...It can make you fight back, stop you in your tracks, or tread carefully….Products from cookies and vegetables to meats and dairy all compete for your attention with labels touting health benefits or - more disturbingly
…show more content…
“This trend toward fear-based labeling may help prop up profits for food manufacturers, but it comes at a much greater cost for consumers who are trying to make informed choices for their families. Labels like these make …show more content…
There needs to be a change in the nutrition labels for them to become appealing to the customer so they actually read them, "But those changes still would not address label complexity, which can leave many shoppers mystified. What consumers need is easy-to-comprehend information on the front of food packages.” This could be a great start to help customers start to eat healthier than they are now because they would actually pay more attention to the nutrition facts of the products they consume. ‘Healthier’ hasn’t become a priority to many people due to the lack of time that is why they don’t pay attention to the food labels, “Consumers don't really use nutrition labels to eat healthier because it's too complicated to try and combine all of the information into one decision. Perhaps even worse ... The FDA needs to give up on this failed policy and try other ideas that help consumers make healthier choices." Food labels have become just a decoration since people don't really use it since it is very difficult to understand, the FDA might need to work on other options to help consumers make better decisions when it come to eating right. It would be a whole different story if people paye much more attention to what they eat, and all of this could happen if industries make these changes on the nutrition
Adverts often mask foods that are unhealthy by emphasising its positive nutritional features – such as dietary fibre and protein. While at the same time ignoring its negative features – including the high amounts of saturated fat and sugar contents. In some cases, even products that mention any alleged health benefits are usually are outweighed by the health risks associated with consuming the product, that they just fail to
Companies nowadays are using different and strong methods in marketing their food products. The Companies are very competitive, and the results can affect the people. When we think about this job field, it is convincing that those producers should use cleverly ways to gain their own living. In the other side they shouldn’t use misleading ways that could harm the people. Food companies should be straightforward with every marketing method they use. People have the right to know what they are consuming and also to know the effects of these products on them, whether it is harmful, useful, or even neutral.
You’ll see most people do not read the labels of the food they are buying. This is because they don’t care, it takes time and people nowadays are very busy. Like Berry said, “they buy what they want-or what they have been persuaded to want-within the limits of what they can get.” People are accustomed to buying what they have been taught to buy by their parents or caretakers as they were growing up. We learn to eat what we have been given as children and we tend to follow that same pattern of eating, which, for most people, is what we can
Food is an essential part of everyday life without it one could not survive. Every day we make choices on what we put in to our bodies. There are countless varieties of food to choose from to meet the diverse tastes of the increasing population. Almost all food requires a label explaining the ingredients and the nutritional value allowing consumers to make informed decisions on what they are consuming. However, many may not be considering where that food is coming from or how it has been produced. Unfortunately, there is more to food than meets the eye. Since 1992, “ the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled, based on woefully limited data, that genetically modified foods were ‘substantially equivalent’ to their non-GM counterparts” (Why to Support Labeling). GM food advocates have promised to create more nutritious food that will be able to grow in harsh climate conditions and eventually put an end to world hunger in anticipation of the growing population. There is very little evidence to support these claims and study after study has proven just the opposite. GM crops are not only unsafe to consume, but their growing practices are harmful to the environment, and multinational corporations are putting farmers out of business.
Zinczenko shares his personal story about how fast-food restaurants such as Taco Bell and McDonald’s led to a weight problem during his high-school years. He claims that the ease of accessibility and lack of healthy alternatives make it all too easy to fall into the cycle of unhealthy eating. Zinczenko also contends that the lack of nutrition labels on fast-food products leaves the consumer in the dark about what he or she is actually consuming. At the time Zinczenko wrote his article, fast-food restaurants were not willingly disclosing nutritional values of their products. Today this has changed. Fast-food companies, including McDonald’s, have put the full nutritional information of their products directly on the packaging and wrappers. All other fast-food establishments either post it on the menu board (Panera), offer easy access to pamphlets containing all nutritional information of their menu in store, or have it easily accessible online (Taco Bell, KFC). I am sure that this is a helpful step forward toward educating the public as to what they are consuming, but has this new knowledge to consumers had a dramatic change toward ending obesity? No. People have always known that eating a Big Mac and fries with the giant soft drinks that McDonald’s and other chains offer is not healthy; putting the nutritional labels on these items has done little to nothing to stop people from eating these high-calorie meals. This again leads back to the point that people as consumers need to be more accountable to themselves and stop blaming others for what they willingly choose to put in their
A non-GMO label doesn’t necessarily mean “healthy”. White sugar, flour, and processed ingredients if not genetically modified are considered non GMO. Recently Cheerios made their ingredients GMO free. This label made Cheerios seems as a “healthy conscience choice” when in fact they are not healthy at all. The truth is that this breakfast cereal is highly processed and is best to be avoided despite the “healthy halo” of being approved by the National Heart Association and GMO free. The truth appears on the nutrition label and the ingredients (Wartman). “If you can’t pronounce it, don’t buy it” The voluntary labeling places a burden on the consumer. The average Americans are forced to navigate confusing and cluttered food landscape” (Wartman). A mandatory labeling law is vital to give clear and concise information to citizens.
Consumers are now watching what they eat, and want to avoid products that contain ingredients that have become deemed as fattening.
Next, companies that refuse the use of genetic modifications on their foods must begin to label foods that do not contain GMOs so that consumers can be sure of their safety, even if others that contain GMOs do not label. Due to this labeling, there will be an exposure to which foods are natural because the foods that are the most appealing will have “the ‘Non-GMO Project Verified’ seal [in order] to help shoppers recognize which products meet rigorous GMO avoidance practices” (“Whole Foods Market”).
More and More people are becoming concerned about what they eat, especially if they consume food products that are manufactured in food industries. However, it is hard to know what exactly you are consuming if food industries provide false nutrition content and mislead consumers by placing false advertisements on the packaging. When a company produces a product that contains misleading label, consumers are not receiving complete information about the food they are eating which could lead to health issues including allergies and problems with diabetes.
There once was a time where words like "light" and "low-fat" on food packages that had no nutritional meaning. As a result, shoppers were often led to believe they were buying products that were more helpful than they really were. Nutrition panels on labels were also confusing and hard to read. But the Australia New Zealand Authority (ANZFA) changed all that. In March 2001 the ANZFA defined new standardized terms that appear on food labels such as "low-fat", "reduced" and "lean" to control how food manufacturers could put their facts that are relevant to most of our dietary needs. This meaning that food labeling helps consumers to make the best possible food choice.
Many people have mixed emotions about implementing menu labeling. Sometimes it requires a lot more than just simply crunching the numbers. Eating healthy involves so much more than just looking at the number of calories in a particular food. It also involves looking at the sugars, trans fat, protein, sodium, etc. It is very important to have an experienced professional conduct the nutrition analysis to make sure the calorie information is
If we label articles such as cleaning supplies and nail polish remover that will do harm when ingested then why do we not label foods that can cause serious illness of death? Each day thousands of adults and children are diagnosed with disabling conditions such as heart disease and diabetes and the rates are rapidly increasing. Many of these lifelong impairments are directly related to the diets that we attest to as a society. Foods with GMO’s, hydrogenated oils, artificial sugars (aspartame), high fructose corn syrup, and monosodium glutamate ought to be clearly labeled on the front of its packaging for the consumer to recognize.
On every food product there is a table of nutritional information that states the exact health contents of the food. There is also a list of ingredients that provides consumers with details regarding the food. In today’s times, consumers are flooded with choices of seemingly similar products. I do not know the difference in nutrition amongst these products. Food labelling is often misleading and deceptive, and I feel as if I have been left in the dark, but also that there is a hidden shadow side that may exist as consumers’ ignoracne may lead to naive incorrect choices.
There are plenty of people that do not pay close attention to the nutrition labels on food, or do not understand what’s in the food that we eat. If we are expecting the parents, adults, or some of the children to be healthy and are not able to read the nutrition label, how can we expect them to have healthy lifestyles? In order for this new generation to be healthy and active. We need to provide them with the support and resources they need. In order, to have a healthy routine.
“I have made terrible mistakes that have hurt the people that I cared about the most, and I am terribly sorry. I am deeply ashamed of my terrible judgment and my actions” (Anthony Weiner). It is said by many different people online that on average we make about 35,000 decisions each day and 3,000 as a young child. In my short 19 years on this earth I have already made over 242 million decisions. Many were small and quite a few were big. The biggest mistake, or wrong decision, I have made was the night I decided that life was not worth living anymore.