Why have you created PER SERVING?
We have created PER SERVING to encourage food editors and writers for newspapers, syndicates, magazines, food websites and cookbooks to include accurate nutritional food facts on the recipes they publish. By publishing a recipe, editors are saying to their readers: “Try this at home.” In effect, editors have warranted that the recipes are worth preparing. PER SERVING believes that by implicitly encouraging readers to make the recipes they publish, newspapers, magazines, food websites and cookbooks have an equal editorial responsibility to tell the rest of the story by printing a complete and accurate nutritional analysis for each recipe.
With this information, readers concerned about the dietary effect of what they eat would have the facts they need to make informed choices. For those living with a number of chronic health conditions, this information can be a matter of life or death.
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What are Per Serving Food Facts?
To date, there are no standards for reporting the per-serving food facts for recipes. PER SERVING hopes that food journalists will work together to create a standard. For now, PER SERVING would hope all recipes include, at a minimum, the following information:
- A clear and obvious listing of the number of servings the recipe makes, and the actual serving size, where appropriate.
- An analysis of–at least– the following nutrition facts:
Calories, Protein, Carbohydrates, Fat, Saturated fat,
Cholesterol, Sodium and Dietary fiber
Click here to see examples of publications that do an excellent job of reporting the per-serving food facts for the recipes they publish.
Knowing how to read a Nutrition Label on packaged foods can offer insight into how to read the Per-Serving Food Facts on recipes. See how much you know. Test your knowledge.
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Is this campaign just something to benefit people with health issues?
Every American should be aware of this information, whether or not they have a particular health concern. Having said that, for people who have chronic health conditions, this information is vital to the management of their health. They have a right to expect those who publish recipes to include this basic information. In the end, some will use the food fact tool, others will not. But everyone can benefit from this information.
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Are you the food police, trying to “censor” rich food recipes?
Absolutely not. PER SERVING is not trying to censor chefs, change the diets of Americans or discourage them from eating certain foods, nor is it about choosing good foods or bad foods. Instead, we simply seek to give people the tools to make informed choices about what they cook.
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How do we know that the food facts are accurate?
Generating accurate food facts is not rocket science, but it takes care and judgment. Registered dietitians analyze recipes. Recipes can be analyzed in nutrition labs. In addition, there are many excellent computer programs available that generate accurate and reliable nutritional food facts. According to one experienced food editor: “All it takes is common sense, knowledge of food, how to cook and a calculator.”
Click here to see a list of various Recipe Analysis software.
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Will PER SERVING help food editors analyze recipes and verify the information?
No. PER SERVING is asking media organizations to do their job, which is to provide their readers with relevant information. We believe that the nutritional content of a recipe is an extremely relevant fact.
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Very few people pay attention to food facts, so why publish them at all?
Many people do pay attention to the food facts and the claim that many others don’t care hardly justifies denying this information to people who rely on accurate food facts for their health.
In a larger sense, this argument turns logic on its head. Perhaps not everyone will use the food facts if they’re available, but we can be certain that if they’re not published in the first place, no one can use them. Looking at this another way: most readers don’t read every op-ed column or editorial, let alone every news article, but newspapers publish this information anyway because it contributes to an informed community and is part of their public service obligation to inform and enlighten. Nutritional food facts are no different. Some readers will use them, others will not, but overall we will end up with a more informed and healthier community if they’re readily available.
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In spite of the fact that nutritional labeling exists on packaged foods and some recipes, there are more overweight Americans than ever before, a rise in diabetes, and heart disease is still the number one killer in our country. What’s the point?
The point is that many Americans, particularly those with health conditions and those who have adopted healthier lifestyles, do use food facts and do depend on them to make healthy choices. They have a right to see this information. The fact that some will ignore it is not a rationale for not providing the information for those who will use it.
It is true that we face serious issues in this country regarding eating habits. But PER SERVING is not about revolutionizing eating habits in America. Our goal is much more modest. It is to allow those who do depend on food facts, and who do use them, to have easy access to them.
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So many recipes are elegant and gourmet. People interested in these kinds of foods don’t worry about food facts.
Elegant and gourmet do not have to mean “unhealthy.” A decadent chocolate cake recipe, for example, can have a place in a diet … with moderation and portion control.
Many people like to try out new foods and recipes. And most recipes published in America’s mass-market newspapers and magazines are not geared to some culinary elite class. Every reader, whatever his or her tastes, has a right to know what’s in the foods they choose to prepare.
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What is the problem? There are plenty of cooking light, low-fat recipes.
Yes, the subculture of healthy eating publications is certainly a positive development. But the fact is that most Americans still read their daily newspapers, weekly and monthly magazines and increasingly seek out information on the Internet. The fact that there is a small group of publications that cater to health-conscious readers, does not excuse the mass-market publications from fulfilling their editorial responsibilities as well.
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