Sir, – Musing over some cheese recently, I saw the calorific information said 69 calories for a 30 gram serving, and in smaller print underneath it gave information on “typical values per 100 grams being 230 calories”.
While the maths was correct, I was still no closer to knowing how many calories would I consume if I ate all the cheese.
One has to search for the actual weight of the food and calculate back, and in the case of cheese, also take the drained weight into account.
Would it not be better to force (versus recommend) food producers to simply state the actual amount of the calories in any particular sealed food item, together with adult daily calorie-needs information, and save us all the mental arithmetic?
In 2012 and 2015 the Irish Food Safety Authority recommended in separate consultation papers that restaurants should show calories for individual meals, as well as the daily adult calorie-needs for context. If it thinks it is a good idea for menus, which it is, why not for all foods?– Yours, etc,
FRANK CLOHOSEY,
Donnybrook,
Cork.