"35 Calorie" Popcorn

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Created on 02, December, 2013

A line of popcorn snacks has two that give the number of calories per cup on the front of package (35 calories and 37 calories), and describes them as "mind-boggling" and "svelte."

These two products have slightly less oil/fat than the others in their lineup, but implying that they are somehow low in calories (or amazingly so) is misleading... and mislabeling. The regulated serving size for popcorn is 1 oz, which is about 3 or 4 cups for these two products, not one cup. ALL popcorn is under 100 calories (unless drenched in butter) when you look at a one-cup serving. But because a true serving is much higher, these popcorn snacks are not "low in calories" -- a regulated nutrient claim (they would need to be no more than 40 calories per standard FDA serving to meet the criteria).