FDA's Fight Against Portion Size Trickery: It's About Time

(MoneyWatch)  The FDA's newfound enthusiasm for realistic portion sizes on packaged food is a long overdue acknowledgment of what Americans have known for years -- nobody eats only six tortilla chips.

The FDA said it wants to readjust the outdated serving sizes food companies have been using on their packaging since the early 1990s, when current nutrition labels were introduced. For nearly two decades, lax oversight has allowed soda companies, for instance, to claim with a straight face that there are 2.5 servings in a 20-ounce bottle. I'm guessing that the last time anyone drank eight ounces of soda was in the 50's when Coke came in those cute little glass bottles, in the dark and thirsty days before there was a 64-ounce Big Gulp.

The problem with puny portion sizes is that it's a form of calorie deception. Beverage companies can proudly declare that there are only 100 calories in their product when that 20 ounce bottle really contains 250. Similarly, breakfast cereal at a serving size of 3/4 of a cup looks a lot less fattening than the one and a half cups anyone over the age of 6 is likely to consume, making that milkless bowl of "whole grain guaranteed" Reese's Puffs 240 calories, not 120.

Of course, shoppers can carry around their measuring cups and do number crunching to come up with actual calorie totals, but clearly they shouldn't they have to. As researchers like Brian Wansink, a professor of marketing at Cornell University, have pointed out, our perception of the size of the food we are eating plays a huge part in how much we choose to eat. Put the same amount of food in both a big bowl and a small bowl and the people with the big bowl will eat more. The same is true of calories. Once people see that 150 calories on the label, it's a license to eat. Even if you sincerely intend to stop at six chips.

The FDA's move is part of a broader effort to clamp down on dubious food labeling and the preponderance of claims that suggest your breakfast cereal will cure heart disease or orange juice will help you get into an Ivy League college. Reforming labels is not going to solve America's obesity problem, but it's a step in the right direction.

Photo by Russell Bernice, Wikimedia Commons