Food labels under attack

Food companies — including some that have pledged to act in the face of rising obesity rates — routinely exploit labeling laws that allow them to make their products seem less fattening than they really are, according to nutritionists and consumer groups.

But the Food and Drug Administration, which establishes the rules for the food industry, said that it was not planning any action on packaged food labeling and, last month, suggested a new program for displaying nutritional information in restaurants, as well.

Supermarket shelves are rife with examples of confusing and potentially misleading labels, all perfectly legal under the FDA rules. For example, a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola has 140 calories and is considered a single serving, but a 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola Classic lists 100 calories a serving because FDA rules consider a single serving in the larger bottle to be only eight ounces.

Experts say part of the problem is that the FDA's own guidelines on serving sizes are based on old data, which is out of step with current portion sizes.

Consumer groups are calling on the FDA to strengthen its labeling laws and on companies to be clearer in labeling by simply providing the total calories, fat, sodium and carbohydrates in each package, instead of making consumers do the math.

"If people are misled by serving sizes, they could easily consume far more calories than they think," said Bonnie Liebman, the director of nutrition at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington advocacy group.

FDA officials, while admitting that packaged food companies exploit the current rules, said that they were not planning to change the labeling rules because they had no reason to believe that eating patterns had changed substantially.

"We have not got that on our list of things to do," said Virginia Wilkening, the FDA's deputy director in the office of nutritional products, labeling and dietary supplements. "At some point and time, if there's reason to believe that our serving sizes are greatly out of line, we could do it, but at this point we don't have any basis to believe that."

Several food and beverage companies, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kellogg and Frito-Lay, declined to discuss their labeling practices but insisted they were doing nothing wrong and were abiding by the FDA's requirements.