Calorie labels can be wildly inaccurate. Here’s what to do about it.

Because occasional inaccuracies can add up, sticking to whole, unprocessed foods can be a helpful strategy to avoid surprise kilojoules in processed foods.

Nutritional labels can be up to 20 per cent inaccurate, according to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines. Louie Douvis

Gabby Landsverk

May 26, 2021 – 7.09am

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If you’re like most people watching your weight, you probably keep an eye on how many calories you eat on average, perhaps scanning food packages or using an app to tally them up.

But nutritional labels can be up to 20 per cent inaccurate, according to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines. That means, for example, that a serving of Greek yoghurt labelled to contain 100 calories could actually weigh in at 80 to 120 calories. The situation is similar in Australia.

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