March is National Nutrition month. Two days ago, on March 1st, the USDA demanded that all meat-poultry products available on the market carry a nutrition label.
Before March 1st, 2012, the USDA created the voluntary labeling program so that small grocery stores, which cut and packaged fresh meat and poultry product, would be spared the cost of printing labels and applying them to the products.
Well,as of presently, USDA requires that all grocery stores supply nutrition labeling information for all single-ingredient, major cuts of meat and other (ground beef, turkey) and poultry either on the package or at the point-of-purchase.How good is that?! The nutrition labels will list the number of calories and the grams of total fat and saturated fat that a product contains.
Credit : USDA
This decision was minutely revised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).The FSIS contends that consumers will have convenient access to important nutritional information about the raw meat and poultry products they most frequently purchase.
The under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elisabeth Hagen states, “providing nutrition information on meat and poultry products in the store gives shoppers a clearer sense of the options available, allowing them to purchase items that are most appropriate for their families’ needs. These new labels mark a significant step in the agency’s efforts to help consumers make more informed food purchase decisions.”
I believe that from a nutritional standpoint, it is rather amazing. For instance,from now on, one will be more capable to make a distinction between nutritional values of chicken breast vs that of pork chops. Consumers will no longer make assumption about which product suits best their cooking/diet and about the lean percentage in meat products. This will also reduce consumers’ exposure to unsafe meat products in their respective meals.
Check out this video on the list of 40 of the most common meat products that are require to have a nutrition label.
Health in your meal 