Truth in Labeling

Recently while I was searching for crackers, I went down the cereal aisle at the local grocer. I usually buy my cereal over in the "organic" section, where nobody has a clue about the brands.

Kellogg's, I noticed, was touting "organic" Rice Crispies and several other brands of cereal. The boxes were about $1.50 higher than the same cereal not so labeled.

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time putting Kellogg's and "organic" in the same sentence. Kellogg's gives us Pop Tarts, after all. Can't get much more non-organic than a Pop Tart.

Organic doesn't mean what it once did thanks to some labeling changes. I think most people think it means "good" and "healthy" and free of chemicals like hormones, pesticides, herbicides, and genetic modification, among other things.

The USDA seems to think organic still means "pure" and good and all of those things. But some people are starting to wonder, particularly when you have a company like Kellogg's' suddenly on the band wagon. I bet they never met a dollar they didn't like.

The government has all of these labels that are supposed to tell us things. It has a website with the National Institute of Health to tell us how to read labels.

I'd like to see some real truth in labeling. Take this bag of Frito's corn chips on the counter in the kitchen. That label says 160 calories a serving. Oh wow, says me, I can dig that. Munch munch.

But wait. A serving is 10 chips. It doesn't say whether that's whole chips or little broken pieces. But there are 15 servings in the bag. So there are 2,400 calories in this bag of Frito's.

Don't you think it should say THERE ARE 2,400 CALORIES IN THIS BAG. Would you buy it if it said that? Maybe not.

The Kraft French Onion dip to go with the Frito's has 60 calories in 2 tablespoons. I don't think 2 tablespoons of dip covers 10 chips. There are 15 servings in the dip, though, so if you can figure out how to spread it out over 10 chips it should all come out even.

There are 900 calories in the dip. Don't you think the dip should say THERE ARE 900 CALORIES IN THIS CONTAINER. Would you buy it if it said that? Maybe not.

Essentially there are enough calories in a bag of Frito's and the accompanying dip to feed one person well for TWO DAYS.

I don't particularly want to live on Frito's for two days. So I should just eat one serving.

I don't normally eat Frito's but I have a really sore throat and a bad cough and I was craving salt. So my husband brought home chips and dip. Wasn't that thoughtful?

I just know he never read the labels.