Food companies will be phasing in redesigned nutrition labels by mid-2018.
One of the important changes on the label has to do with serving sizes. Have you ever noticed on a bag of potato chips, “serving size: 12 chips” or a 20-ounce soda bottle that says, “2.5 servings per container”? Who eats like that?
Those numbers are based on ideal serving sizes used by nutritionists — an ounce of chips or cheese, 8 ounces of soda, or 3 ounces of meat. Most people don’t eat that way, so the FDA has decided to use real-world servings to calculate calories, fat, sugar, and everything else on the label. That makes it much easier to understand (and much less mental math). Our infographic explains.