The package might tell you how much of a food product is
inside, but it is NIST that provides the measurement
bedrock by which you can be confident that you are
getting what the label says you are paying for. |
Go
into your pantry or your refrigerator, pick up a box of
cereal, a deli container of black olives, a stick of
butter, a bottle of juice. In every case, the label makes
a claim that there is a specific amount of that food item
inside of the package. The amount might be a gallon in
the case of milk or 1.08 pounds in the case of a package
of ground beef. The National
Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Office
of Weights and Measures is the nation's bedrock that
determines the technical protocol by which state
officials can determine if the manufacturers, packagers
and sellers of the country actually are giving you the
amount of product that you definitely pay for. Besides having a hand in ensuring
you get the quantities you pay for, NIST also has a
limited role in ensuring that the food inside of the
package has the nutrients that the label claims it has.
One of NIST's more recent forays into this arena is in
the development of a Standard
Reference Material for infant formula by which
companies, regulatory agencies and consumer groups can
measure and compare the amount of various nutrients in
what is the exclusive source of nutrition for many
infants.
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