March is National Nutrition Month, and the Food Safety and Inspection Service is improving the way consumers receive nutritional information about the meat and poultry products they most frequently purchase. Beginning today, ground or chopped meat and poultry products, such as ground turkey and hamburger, will be required to have nutrition facts panels on their packages, just like the ones seen on most other foods at the grocery store. For other popular cuts of raw meat and poultry, including chicken wings and pork tenderloin, that same nutrition information may appear on package labels or on easily accessible materials near the meat counter.
Providing the nutritional content of pork chops, chicken breasts, ground turkey, and ground beef right in the store will allow consumers to compare products and make more informed decisions on what is most appropriate for their families’ needs.
In addition to the nutrition facts panel, a ground or chopped product that includes on its label a lean percentage statement, such as “85% lean,” will now include the percentage of its fat content, making it easier for consumers to understand the amounts of lean and fat content in a particular product.
By having more convenient access to this nutrition information, consumers will no longer have to guess which products fit their diets. I encourage everyone to take advantage of this new information as they do their grocery shopping this weekend.
To read more about the labels that will be coming to your store, click here.
