Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
10/31/2016
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
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What do you check on a label when buying a product in the supermarket? Calories? Sodium? Incidentally, do you check labels? If your answer is no, know that you are not alone: 26% of Brazilians do not read the labels of the products they consume, according to a survey conducted by QualiBest, an online research institute that interviewed 2,358 people to find out if the population Checks the nutritional information of the food they buy.
This is also due to the fact that Brazilians also have difficulty understanding the information contained in labels: in a consultation conducted by the organization Consumers International and carried out in the country through the Brazilian Institute of Consumer Protection (Idec), only 28% Of the 786 participants were able to correctly indicate the amount of fats, sugars and salt in a packet of cookies.
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Patrícia Amarante, a food engineer at Sincabima (Union of Cocoa and Bulk Industries, Pasta and Biscuits, Candy and Canned Food in the State of Paraná) teaches that before reading the label, it is essential to check the integrity of the packaging . Holes, openings, seals and leaks should be inspected cautiously. Cans should not be stuffed or kneaded - otherwise, they should not be purchased.
Then the first information to look at is the validity of the product. "If the consumer is allergic or intolerant to a specific type of food, checking the list of ingredients and allergen alerts is the next step," warns the engineer, who explains that gluten and allergens, by law, should always be indicated Packaging. The nutritional chart comes next, allowing the consumer to figure out the amount of each nutrient and percentages per day that portion of the product will add to your diet.
Oh, and worth remembering that the order in which the nutrients appear on the table tells a lot about what you are consuming - those who are present in higher quantity are at the top of the list. And if you think that consuming expired food will do no harm, know that this can be a risky attitude: "To determine the shelf life of the products, the industries perform tests in the laboratory and make analyzes during the call 'life Which guarantee that until that date, described on the label as validity, it will be safe to consume the product and that it will maintain its sensorial characteristics of taste, odor, texture and color ", teaches Patrícia Amarante. That is: the date placed there has been studied carefully to ensure its safety, therefore, the ideal is always to respect it.
Obligatoriness
But what information do they need to be labeled on food? According to RDC 360 of 2003 of Anvisa, which regulates Nutritional Labeling of Packaged Food, it is mandatory to declare the amount of energy and nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, total fats, saturated fats, trans fats, dietary fiber and sodium.
Photo: Korta / FotoliaPhoto: Korta / Fotolia
It is also necessary to state in the nutritional table the portion, that is, the average amount of food that should be consumed by healthy people, over 36 months of age at each occasion of ingestion.
The homemade measure should also be indicated with reference to some utensil commonly used by the consumer to measure food, such as a glass, soup spoon or cup. In addition, Patricia points out that other laws, ordinances, resolutions and normative instructions also require the declaration of the existence of gluten and allergens, as a way to guarantee the food safety of the consumer.
Source: Web Run
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.