Corrupted Calorie Counting
First a welcome back to me, I am once again trying to get back to writing on a regular basis, I am going to try and start off slowly and build to my previous posting levels, so without further ado:
Here at AmericanMadness we have not been huge fans of the law that requires chain restaurants to post calorie counts. Essentially we feel that the information provided can be misleading since it goes by the assumption that th only concern with food should be the amount of calories you are taking in.
Now we have another problem with it: Over at CellarDoor they have a post with pictures from 2 Dunkin’ Donuts, both located in Penn Station. 1 of them listing the calorie count on a Chocolate Glazed donut at 80 calories and the other listing it at 340 calories. Both are printed up in the official D & D way so which is to be believed? Or maybe they are both right, maybe each Dunkin’ Donuts in the city is using different recipes and cooking methods and that is why they get different calorie counts. Or the donuts on the left could be almost 1/4 the size of the ones on the right, there are so many possibilities that I decided to ask Dunkin’ Donuts to explain it. I am still waiting for a response.
Also in the realm of calorie counting:
A new concept for a chocolate bar, that takes calorie counting to a new level. each little segment of chocolate has the calorie count labeled on it. Cute idea, I especially like how each piece appears to be perforated from the other pieces, making them easy to seperate and retain their calorie count..
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18. June 2008 at :
Welcome back.
Yes, the lone issue all of us seem to agree on is mandated calorie counts. To add fuel to our fire I heard a wonderful argument the other day. If someone is looking at a menu, and sees the calorie count for diet coke (1) and skim milk (86), are they to assume diet coke is a “healthier” option?
18. June 2008 at :
Ooh…awesome example, Eric.
18. June 2008 at :
Well, don’t get me started on the adverse health effects of dairy products in general.
But Matt, it’s highly unlikely that two Dunkin’ Donuts are using two different recipes or cooking methods for their donuts. The way chain restaurants work is to create a uniform method for both recipe and preparation so that no matter where you buy a Chocolate Glazed Dunkin’ Donut (be it in Poughkeepsie or Madrid) it will taste the same. Also those calorie counts are determined in independent tests organized by the company itself in a central place and the results are applicable company-wide. More than likely one is a printing error that was supposed to be discarded. 80 calories for a donut is incredibly low.
18. June 2008 at :
Well as a Barista at Starbucks, all I can say in terms of calorie counting is, if you wish to stay thin, DO NOT order a Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino!!
18. June 2008 at :
You guys are a scream! It is obvious that whoever posted the sign put the wrong sign up for the donuts. It is probably a sign for one of their tasteless bagels. Or it may be the caloric content of one of their little donut balls, certainly not correct for a greasy, fat loaded, artery clogging, chocolate covered donut.
18. June 2008 at :
Hey Jason-
Yeah I wasn’t exactly being serious when I suggested they were using different methods or recipes… Though maybe there should be an independent tester, I don’t know, let’s call it the FDA who should take responsibility for this sort of thing. Just because the testing is done at a centralized location doesn’t mean they aren’t lying about the results, at the least they could lie consistently across the board.
18. June 2008 at :
The chart on their website says 330 calories and 11 grams of fat, in one donut. This is why our country is turning into a huge fat farm.
18. June 2008 at :
Joel, if you look at the picture the cards both say “chocolate glazed.” although you’re probably onto something with the possibility of it being for the chocolate balls (properly called Munchkins).
Matt, there’s no way the FDA could handle testing all products produced by all chain restaurants in the country. Forgetting for a moment that it would be a nightmare of a budget expenditure, bureaucracy consistently proves completely inefficient at that sort of micromanagement policing.
Actually, now that I think about it it’s not just restaurants that administer nutritional testing of their products but every sings food product you buy in the supermarket - all of which are carried out privately.
18. June 2008 at :
I like to buy these little pre-made iced coffees produced by Japenese companies and sold in NYC (pretty much) only in Japanese stores. The nutritional labels are in Japanese, so the companies affix stickers with the English equivalents, but there is absolutely no way these calories counts, etc. are accurate! Presumably, no one monitors this stuff at all. If NYC really cared about calorie counts, they’d have to create some department to make sure that everything is accurate…random testing would be the best way. I don’t know if they’ve done that. I doubt it.
18. June 2008 at :
Yeah, I am aware it is a pipe dream to imply the FDA should monitor it all, especially since this is a NYC mandate and not a nation wide requirement.
I just love the fact that clearly both those signs are “approved” by Dunkin’ Donuts and list different calorie contents for the same product, but as previously speculated here most likely one refers to the donuts (we’ll go with the 340 calorie count) and one is probably the Munchkin (meaning that each donut hole is about 1/4 the size of an actual donut).
19. June 2008 at :
I believe in the munchkin theory.
19. June 2008 at :
And so, here is the munchkin song from “The Wizard of Oz
(Munchkins)
Ding-dong the witch is dead
Which old witch? The wicked witch
Ding-dong the wicked witch is dead
Wake up you sleepyhead
Rub your eyes, get out of bed
Wake up the wicked witch is dead
She’s gone where the goblins go
Below - below - below
Yo-ho, let’s open up and sing and ring the bells out
Ding Dong’ the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low
Let them know the Wicked Witch is dead
19. June 2008 at :
Can I point out that Joel went to the website and looked up the calorie count for the chocolate glazed donut and it still does not actually match either of the calorie counts in the pictures