I've seen this so many times and it really bothers me.
You pick up a package of something and read the nutritional information on the back. All seems fine until you realize that it says "per 1/2 package". WTF? Why do they do this? Is the information so bad that they want to mislead you by only stating 1/2 the facts?
I've seen "per serving" and I understand the reasoning behind that but 1/2 package? That seems very misleading to me.
I agree. It's pretty obvious that when someone picks up a single bottle of Coke and a big banana nut muffin, that the individual intends to eat every bit of it himself. Yes, the serving size of each might be too much, but the calorie count and all that should be labeled in total!
ITA. The vending machine where I works spits out things like this - a package of pretzels, for example. The serving is 1/2 package. Like I'm going to only eat 1/2!
It's a very common practice. The manufacturers know that if you buy a 2.5 ounce bag of potato chips that you aren't going to eat the recommended 1.0 ounces that they suggest and yet it makes you think it's healthy.
Can't stand it. Fortunately I was alerted to this by a basic nutrition class I took during undergrad, so usually I'll catch that when I see the basic calorie count doesn't make sense for what's in the pack, because I try to watch those labels. I think after a while you can kinda catch on to what a actual serving size is and learn how many calories 1 serving of carbs, protein or whatever contains, and it gets a little easier to not be fooled by that.
This is such a HUGE peeve of mine! It's so stupid when I get a can of soup and it says "2.5 servings." There's barely enough soup in there for one person, let alone two (and a leprechaun).
It's totally about advertising. They want their products to appear low-cal and healthy, so they just manipulate the serving size. It's really odd that portion sizes are getting larger and larger and serving sizes are getting smaller and smaller.