European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 26, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A lesson in labels by Marian Burros new York times i have been  my son said sheepishly last week As he held up a Container of a new Quot Lite Quot Orange juice what had caught his Eye was the top of the Carton which proclaimed Premium Orange juice taste and nutrition with one third fewer calories Quot he had missed the wording on the front and rear panels Orange juice beverage a 60 percent Orange juice a had he read the Side panels carefully he would have Learned that while the Large print said. Quot no sugar or preservatives  this diluted Orange juice contained the sugar substitute aspartame whose safety is still a subject of question in the United slates the 40 percent that was t Orange juice comp Seo natural Orange flavors citric acid magnesium oxide annatto. Niacin Amide Calcium Panto Senate Copper Peri dome hydrochloride thiamine Mon nitrate and folic acid along with the aspartame to have Learned that much he would have had to cad the ingredients statement Reading food labels is like Reading a contract the Fine print is the most important part even though much of it is unintelligible nonetheless it is not hard to use the Label to protect against unpleasant surprises the . Government requires that All but about 300 packaged food products 1st their ingredients in order of  the excluded products must follow recipes specified by the Federal feed and drug administration in any additional ingredients Are included they must be listed some of the More common products with such Quot standards of i Denty Are Ketchup. Peanut butter and Margarine manufacturers of these products often  All ingredients voluntarily not Only should health conscious shoppers read the ingredient statement they should read the nutrition Labelling if it is provided about half of All packaged foods display nutrition information a pc just must provide this information if its Label makes a nutritional claim if it is for a special dietary use or if. Like most cereals it has added nutrients some manufacturers provide such information even though they Are not required to an Fra Survey a Lew years ago found that 68 percent of the americans who read food labels did so because of interest in fat cholesterol sodium sugar and additives but under current nutrition Labelling rules that information is not required the nutrition Label which has been required for 16 years reflects earlier concerns about vitamins minerals and protein labels for products regulated by the Fra must provide the serving size and the number of Servings per Container the calories protein carbohydrates fat and sodium and the percentage of the United states recommended daily allowance Surda for protein vitamins a and c. The b vitamins thiamine Riboflavin niacin and the minerals Calcium and Iron meat and poultry products regulated by the agriculture department have different requirements though they May use the Fra format their labels do not. For example have to give the sodium Content not until 1986 was sodium Content required by the Fdl ind the Only thing the Label must say about Tat is How Many Grams it amounts to it does not have to give a breakdown on the kinds of fat polyunsaturated and saturated few labels indicate the percentage of calories that come from fat. That information would help put the fat Content into perspective the cholesterol Content is also optional unless the product makes a claim concerning cholesterol. Since the Fra Survey. Americans have also become interested in fiber but Liber Content is not required on decoding a nutrition Label use of word natural it unregulated and meaningless. The now fat Quot dam meant the Label must list saturated and Unta turreted fatty acid at Well at Chot Atterol. But Tow fat itself hat no Legal definition. This figure must be within 20 percent of the actual calorie count. Thus a serving of this Cereal could contain anywhere from 88 to 132 calories. To determine the percentage of fat calories,4 multiply the Grams of fat 6 by 9 by the number of calories in a Gram of fat 9. Then Divide the result�?54 a by the total calorie count 110. The resulting percentage of fat calories 49, is quite High for Cereal tines grains alone Are Low in fat and Well above the 30 percent recommended As the maximum in a healthful diet ingredients Are listed in descending order according to weight be careful you can t Tell How much of a particular ingredient it \ used. But often if you add together the \ various forms of sweetener in a product a in this Case sugar Brown sugar Corn syrup malt syrup and Honey a sweeteners become the primary ingredient. Cereal All natural a Low fat serving size 1 ounce calories protein carbohydrates total fat polyunsaturated fatty add saturated fatty add cholesterol 110 a 23g 6g 4fl org a soybean Oil is polyunsaturated Coconut Oil is saturated. The Label does not have to specify which Oil was used in this product. / sodium 180mg pot Plum a Sig a applies if Coconut of is us percentage of . Recommended daily allowance protein Vitamin a 25 Vitamin c a thiamine 25 Riboflavin 25 niacin 25 Waldum 15 Iron 15 Vitamin d 10 Vitamin b6 25 Folio add 25 Vitamin b12 25 phosphorus 4 magnesium 4 Zinc 2 Copper 4 a contains less than 2% of the . Rda ingredients whole wheat rolled Oats sugar Corn Brown sugar partially hydrogenated soybean and or Coconut of malted Barley Aalt com syrup Coconut whey malt syrup Honey or Tilida flavor Artl Foldal Lood colouring yellow no. 5but mag. _ vitamins and minerals Vitamin a Palmitate Niadna Amide Iron Vitamin 86, Riboflavin Vitamin bh12thiamine Mon nitrate Vitamin by Zinc oxide Lolic add Vitamin d and Vitamin 812. Carbohydrate information Label is a composite of information typically printed on a Cereal Box. Dietary fiber Complex carbohydrates sucrose and other sugars total carbohydrates 9 16g 6g 23g one ounce is two thirds of a cup. Most people eat double that amount Lor breakfast when comparing similar product a tors to compare equal serving size. Sugars tiber and Complex carbohydrate Ere lumped together. Further information is optional. This Label offer Edd flon details the potassium using i optional. / the Label must bit the first eight nutrients Here. Listing the additional nutrients is optional unless the product makes a special aim involving tier Al food additives must busted on tie Label but sometimes it is imports fils to Reo Ogniz them. Mag or Mons Odum glutamate a flavor enhancer which Tome people we Aber Alc to is a source of soda pm. R must be byte Don the Label. But Hydro Zed vegetable protein which contains mag May be design at so As natural Flavouring. But or butyl at de hydroxy toluene is a preservative. Its safety is under review by f0a. With the exception of yellow no. 6, to which Tome people Are allergic food colors and flavors do not have to be listed by name. _ despite the fact that this product contains Corn and Oats and whole wheat it is an insignificant source of Finbar. Complex carbohydrates Are important in the diet sucrose and other sugars provide calories and sweetness. The Label unless a claim is made for it when fiber is listed to is sometimes called dietary fiber and sometimes crude fiber. The latter information is of no use Only the dietary fiber matters labels must also provide the not weight the name and address of the manufacturer and. On perishable products an expiration Date whatever else is found on the Label can be classified As promotional or advertising material the Center for science m the Public interest a consumer health advocate in Washington has designed a More straightforward food Label to make nutrition information More intelligible the Label would not list b vitamins because b Vitam deficiencies arc no longer a serious health threat. It would not Only list the amount of fat cholesterol sodium and fiber it would also Chara Conze those amounts As High medium or Low and it would further state which of the fats raise cholesterol and which do not the amounts would also be provided for vitamins a and c. Calcium and Iron with ratings for the amounts excellent Good or poor the Label would list the major ingredients a those that make up 5 percent or More of the products weight a in descending order ingredients that make up less than 5 percent of the product would be listed separately. If the product contains sugars in different forms a Tike Corn syrup High fructose Corn sweetner. Honey malt or dextrose a they would grouped together As one ingredient to make Clear the cumulative sugar Content the front of the package would display a Box with four sections rating the calories fat sodium and fiber with color coding if a product was High in a Good nutrient or Low in a bad one. For example the Section for that nutrient would be Green. If the situation were reversed the Section would be red. Of the product contained moderate amounts of either a Good or a bad nutrient the Section would be yellow. Improvements in Labelling Are unlikely to arrive soon even though there is pressure Tor change in Congress. Rep. Henry a Waxman d Calif is to hold hearings this summer on proposals to make nutrition Labelling easier to use and to require it on All packaged foods. Waxman is working with sen Howard m. Metzenbaum. Ohio who plans to introduce nutrition Labelling legislation. In the meantime the nutritionally aware shopper will find it worthwhile to learn How to read the current Label. No one Ever promised nutrition would be easy. Page 14 stars and stripes Friday Jan