Testing for Accuracy: Declared Calories vs. Actual Calories

The golden rule of dieting says that in order to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. At first, the concept seems easy enough. Just substitute that Big Mac for that pre-packaged turkey sandwich at the corner store, right?

Turns out, the Food and Drug Administrations allows a 20 percent margin when it comes to packaged food, while manufacturers can be penalized for selling underweight packages. This causes many companies to add a little more in order to avoid the FDA’s penalties, which becomes extra calories we may be unknowingly consuming.

In an investigation of this dilemma,  filmmaker Casey Neistat of the New York Times created a short documentary exploring  the discrepancy between declared calories by manufacturers vs. actual calories. Neistat enlists the help of two food scientists from the NY Research Center to find the actual calorie content of some of his daily food pickings around New York. Watch “Calorie Detective” as a Starbucks Frapp, a vegetarian sandwich, a muffin, a Subway sandwich, and a Chipotle burrito are put to the test.

H/T College Hack