I went into the catacombs of the Canadian Food and Drug Regulations. While the borogoves seemed fairly mimsy, the snackers were snickering over the poor bones of innocent citizens. I came out with the following:
- From B.01.001.1 (1) (this makes me think that the government can’t count above binary) here are the recommended daily values for the following nutrients. This still begs the question of what type of human these amounts are representative of…
- 65 g of fat
- 20 g of the sum of saturated fatty acids and trans-fatty acids
- 300 mg of cholesterol
- 300 g of carbohydrates
- 25 g of fibre
- 2400 mg sodium
- 3500 mg of potassium
- and here are some guidelines about recommended serving sizes as given by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Guide to Labelling and Advertisement. The bottom line is that companies have wide latitude in determining the serving sizes, but they have to be consistent in use. For example, if the package contains four servings, the directions for use and recipes should also refer to the same serving size. Either weight should be used throughout, or volume should be used throughout. If the package contains an amount that would realistically be eaten in one sitting, that determines the serving size. Just for fun, here are some allowed serving sizes for typical items
- bagel 25-100 g
- medium cake 50-125 g
- cream cheese 15-60 g
- cream 10-30 ml
- frozen yogurt 60-250 ml
So the bottom line is that you have some arithmetic ahead of you, which should put you back about 2-3 calories, which is all to the good. I’d recommend fish.
