When Consumers See What's In Their Meat, Will They Buy More Seafood? New Labeling Law Could Prompt Changes

EINNEWS, January 4-----An interesting twist on requirements to apply nutrition labels on packaged meats may result in the sale of more seafood.

Just before the new year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ruled that 40 of the most popular cuts of packaged meat and poultry products are required to include nutritional facts panels by January 2012.

The nutrition facts panel will include number of calories, grams of total fat and saturated fat and a new "fat percentage."

Industry observers believe consumers will be unpleasantly surprised by what they see on the new labels and will turn to leaner cuts, more poultry and more seafood.

The new nutritional labels will increase sales of meats that are leaner, including chicken and turkey, along with seafood, Tom DeMott, COO of strategic advisory firm Encore Associates in San Ramon, Calif., told the website SeafoodSource.

"There will be shock from consumers when they start looking at some meat labels. Those higher fat and cholesterol readings on packages will scare some consumers away from buying meat. I suspect it will scare away more than 1 out of every 100 consumers," DeMott said.

Read more news about seafood labeling.