Nutrition labels on cuts of meat to debut in 2012

Those familiar nutrition labels found on everything from soda to cereal to mayonnaise will also be required on meats beginning Jan. 1, 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The new labels will list calories, calories from fat, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, protein and vitamins for 40 of the most commonly purchased cuts of beef, poultry, pork and lamb, according to an early look at the labels provided to USA TODAY. The new rules will be published today in the Federal Register. Federal officials say they hope the labels will make Americans as conscious about health choices in the meats they buy as they have become in scouring labels on other packaged food products. "This will be very helpful to people who are bewildered by what's in meat," says Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University. "But people will be quite shocked at the calories and fat." A 4-ounce serving of regular ground beef that is 73% lean meat, for example, contains 350 calories, 270 of them from fat, according to the USDA, making up 60% of the suggested daily intake of saturated fat in a 2,000-calorie diet. The labels will help consumers "make sure they are doing right by their families as they prepare meals," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says...more