I came across a blog posted by a fellow classmate talking about her surprise at seeing the nutritional information printed on a subway tissue paper. It reminded me of my experience in the States just last year, where I was quite shocked myself to see the nutritional information printed on the tissue. Although, my friends were quite pleased to find that information conveniently placed on the tissue, I found it quite bizarre. Sure it is an initiative at trying to help individuals make healthier choices, but is it really user friendly and easy to understand? How many people who eat at subway actually know how to correctly interpret the nutritional information? Whether the information is successfully accomplishing its' objectives also needs to be considered. Is the information meaningful to the people eating at Subway and what impact does it have on their food choices (if any). More importantly, it is important to consider what level of understanding a person is required to have when they come across caloric values in grams, or daily value percentages of macro nutrients and vitamins.
This reminds me of the nutrition labeling dilemma, where the labels are not having the desired impact because people are not able to correctly interpret the information. The nutrition labeling is designed to be used in conjunction with Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating (CFGHE), but not many people are using it accordingly. Something that people tend to overlook is the lack of consistency among the suggested serving sizes between products. For instance, a 75g bread is likely to have more calories or nutrients than a bread weighted at 65g. While it is good to provide nutritional information, we need to be careful so as not to overwhelm people and more importantly, to provide them with the knowledge and skills necessary to interpret the information provided. I think that by just providing the calories found in the Subway sandwiches we run the risk of encouraging calorie counting if we do not provide the basic skill set required to know how to use the information correctly.
That being said, nutrition labeling is a useful tool for comparison and has been known to influence consumer decisions. Even though there are aspects of nutrition labelling that need improvement, it is a valuable tool in assisting people make healthier choices.
One weakness that I found in the subway nutritional information was that they are based on 9-Grain Wheat bread, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and green peppers in the sandwiches. Thus, any sandwich with pickles, mushrooms, a different type of bread will have different nutritional amounts. Subway proudly claims to have sandwiches that contain 6g or less fat, however, these values do not include condiments and sauces that usually account for a large chunk of the fat content. So when a person proudly orders a vegetarian sub claimed to be less than 6g of fat, they are getting more fat than they expect once they add condiments and sauces to it.
In conclusion, I think that these initiatives are a great step towards promoting healthy eating, however, we need to make sure there is adequate information out there for people to successfully interpret this information. With all the nutritional information being handed out, we need to be careful in the message we deliver to people because even the most healthiest of most fast food products are not that healthy when comparing it to meals prepared at home.
One weakness that I found in the subway nutritional information was that they are based on 9-Grain Wheat bread, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and green peppers in the sandwiches. Thus, any sandwich with pickles, mushrooms, a different type of bread will have different nutritional amounts. Subway proudly claims to have sandwiches that contain 6g or less fat, however, these values do not include condiments and sauces that usually account for a large chunk of the fat content. So when a person proudly orders a vegetarian sub claimed to be less than 6g of fat, they are getting more fat than they expect once they add condiments and sauces to it.
In conclusion, I think that these initiatives are a great step towards promoting healthy eating, however, we need to make sure there is adequate information out there for people to successfully interpret this information. With all the nutritional information being handed out, we need to be careful in the message we deliver to people because even the most healthiest of most fast food products are not that healthy when comparing it to meals prepared at home.
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