Serving Suggestions

[S100HP]

Maybe I'm just turning into a grumpy old man, but aren't serving suggestions just utterly ridiculous?

Take for example this tin of soup from Asda (other supermarket also sell soup). It's a tin of tomato soup, 400g.



I imagine that most people in the entire world would happily eat/drink this tin in one sitting, maybe with a bit of bread and butter on the side. No drama.

So why on earth do they state "we suggest this product provides two servings"



Who in their right mind has half a tin of soup and think "yes, I am now satisfied"

I saw it on a bag of mini cheddars the other day. 45g....provides two servings.

Mint aero balls.....8 is their idea of a "serving"

It's ridiculous. Maybe that's why I'm also in the weight loss thread.....

[FredericRobinson]

To make salt/ sugar/ fat nutritional per serving figures look better

[PositronicRay]

Not everyone is equal.

[Gigamoons]

FredericRobinson said:

To make salt/ sugar/ fat nutritional per serving figures look better

Is the correct answer.

Grab a 500ml bottle of pop, a lot of them will give the nutritional values in both "per 100ml" and "per 250ml serving" but not for the 500ml size it actually is.
Despite the fact that literally everyone will consumer it as a single serving.

Food and drink companies are like F1 teams: give them a set of rules and they'll sit in a room working out technically the best way to lean right up to the very edge of them without getting disqualified.

[craigjm]

Gigamoons said:

FredericRobinson said:

To make salt/ sugar/ fat nutritional per serving figures look better

Is the correct answer.

Grab a 500ml bottle of pop, a lot of them will give the nutritional values in both "per 100ml" and "per 250ml serving" but not for the 500ml size it actually is.
Despite the fact that literally everyone will consumer it as a single serving.

Food and drink companies are like F1 teams: give them a set of rules and they'll sit in a room working out technically the best way to lean right up to the very edge of them without getting disqualified.

Very true but it is also an indication that we have almost indoctrinated ourselves to over eat.

[anonymous-user]

FredericRobinson said:

To make salt/ sugar/ fat nutritional per serving figures look better

Exactly.

In this particular instance, the whole can provides 24g of sugar vs an RDA for sugars of 30g.

[Gompo]

I know why they're there, but sometimes I think they're just having a laugh. I doubt anybody who should care about portion and serving sizes takes any notice. Caught this one today on a small 'pop" bottle.


1.5 servings, really.

[UTH]

What really gets me about that soup can is that it's a suggestion to serve it in a bowl. What a great suggestion by the manufacturers, without it we'd be a nation of people pouring it directly onto our faces from the tin.

[boyse7en]

UTH said:

What really gets me about that soup can is that it's a suggestion to serve it in a bowl. What a great suggestion by the manufacturers, without it we'd be a nation of people pouring it directly onto our faces from the tin.

Isn't it a legal requirement to put "serving suggestion" on any photo of the food in case people think they get a bowl and spoon included? Or there is a sprig of parsley/slice of bread or whatever. OK, soup is a fairly simple concept, but more complicated packaged food could be misconstrued by the eternally optimistic.

[mickk]

UTH said:

What really gets me about that soup can is that it's a suggestion to serve it in a bowl. What a great suggestion by the manufacturers, without it we'd be a nation of people pouring it directly onto our faces from the tin.

You think they'd suggest the time and place to serve as well, not enough detail for me.