Dongshi instant beverages: unclear labels on calories and volume

In the hot summer, fast food operators have launched a variety of summer drinks to cool off, but the current labels may not be enough to provide complete information on how much calories and volume are consumed. The Nutrition Group of the Tung Foundation held a press conference on the 8th and said that in addition to the lack of clear nutritional labels, fast food drinks do not even have the milliliters of the basic cup volume, which is not conducive to people's weight management.

The Tung Foundation's investigation found that instant drinks not only have no clear nutritional information, but even the volume in milliliters of basic cup types is not marked, which is not conducive to people's weight management. (Photo courtesy of Tung Foundation)

In mid-July, the Tung Foundation randomly surveyed the calorie and volume labels of popular regular drinks (iced cola and iced black tea) and seasonal drinks (Qinghong Lian Guo, Rock Mojito, smoothie series, kiwi konjac iced tea, maple black tea latte, and Caribbean pineapple Sprite) at seven fast food chains with a total of 147 stores.

Although most fast food chains publish nutritional information of their products on their official websites, in-store posters, leaflets, placemats, etc., Dong's actual investigation found that only 67% of stores provide nutritional information for regular drinks, and only 18% of stores provide it for seasonal drinks.

Many businesses pointed out that relevant nutritional information is available on the official website and asked the public to check it themselves or ask staff directly, but many staff members were actually unable to answer.

In addition, even for the same business, the units of beverage capacity may vary, such as ounces, milliliters, or even grams, or only the calories in a medium cup may be indicated without providing the capacity, making it difficult for people to understand how much they have actually drunk.

Xu Huiyu, director of Tung's Nutrition Group, said that Taiwanese people generally use milliliters (mL) or cc as the unit of capacity, but some businesses use American ounces as the unit. There are even two businesses that do not indicate the capacity unit of drinks at all, and only use large, medium, and small cups to distinguish different calories.

However, different businesses have very different definitions of the capacity of large, medium and small cups. For example, a medium cup at McDonald's is 22 ounces (650 mL), but a medium cup at MOS Burger is 16 ounces (463 mL).

Dong suggested that since the definitions of large, medium and small cups vary from business to business, it is recommended that beverage volumes be measured in "ml" or "cc", and that stores should also try to provide nutritional information to help people manage their weight.