FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Shelley Lowenstein info@per-serving.org

NATIONAL SURVEY REVEALS AMERICANS WANT MORE
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Per Serving Coalition Encourages Media to Give Their Audiences What They Want

Washington, DC, September 3, 2002 - With concern about the rising incidence of obesity, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases in the headlines, a new national survey reveals that more than three-quarters of Americans (81 percent) believe media, such as "newspapers, magazines, food websites and cookbooks should provide key nutrition facts with every recipe they publish because the information enables readers to make informed decisions about the foods they eat and prepare." The survey was released today by Per Serving, the new national grassroots coalition of health, nutrition and consumer groups established to encourage greater disclosure in published recipes.

The 2002 Per Serving survey, conducted by the independent polling firm Peter D. Hart Research Associates, also found that more than half of Americans (57 percent) say the inclusion of per-serving nutritional facts would be extremely or fairly helpful for them and others they know, while 39 percent say availability of food facts would make them more likely to use recipes in newspapers, magazines and cookbooks.

"The message is clear and unmistakable: Americans want to know the nutritional make-up of the foods they cook at home, and they want their favorite publications to give them the information," said Shelley Lowenstein, a Maryland mother who founded Per Serving when her teenage daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. "Providing per-serving food facts is a simple and effective way for media of all types to give their audience the information they seek, while making a difference in the food choices of millions of Americans."

The 2002 Per Serving Survey was conducted by telephone in July 2002 with a nationally representative sample of 689 adults. The margin of error is +/- 3.8%.

"This poll demonstrates that consumers understand the critical link between health and the foods they prepare for their families," said Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former U.S. Surgeon General and founder of Shape Up America!, a non-profit campaign to provide responsible weight management information to the public. "Consumers need nutrition facts to accompany all published recipes. We call on food editors and writers to analyze the recipes they publish and include complete food facts for each one."

"In the months since Per Serving was formed, we've contacted nearly 100 publications to ask them to print the food facts with their recipes," said Lowenstein. "While it's gratifying that some big-city newspapers, women's and fitness magazines, and a few websites do include the per serving food facts, many more do so inconsistently or not at all. We hope this research will be a wake-up call to those publications -- readers want food facts."

Lowenstein noted that professional nutrition analysis software, allowing food editors to calculate per-serving food facts in minutes, is available for $600 or less from various nutrition software companies.

About PER SERVING

Per Serving's mission is to encourage food editors for newspapers, syndicates, magazines, food websites, and cookbooks to analyze all the recipes they publish and include the "per serving" nutrition facts for each one. Started by a Mom, to help her daughter better manage her type 1 diabetes, Per Serving believes that consumers have a right to know the nutritional make up of recipes so they can make informed choices. Backed by a group of health, nutrition, and consumer organizations, Per Serving's grassroots efforts will enlist the support of consumers to ask for these nutrition facts.

About Peter D. Hart Research

Now in its 30th year of operation, Hart Research has conducted well over 5,000 public opinion surveys, and has administered and analyzed interviews among more than three million individuals in that time. Hart Research also has undertaken more than 4,000 focus group sessions. Since 1989, Hart Research, in conjunction with Robert Teeter's Coldwater Corporation, has conducted the public opinion surveys for NBC News and The Wall Street Journal. This represents the first time any outside firm was retained by a network to conduct surveys that bear the name of the sponsoring organization. These surveys are widely regarded as barometers of American opinion.