food labels can be off by over 20%, legally.

[Nightwanderer]

I've read this in several places actually, and finally remembered to copy a link to an article stating it, although it is a few years old. Can anyone help me find this info from an authoritative source? (like straight from the FDA?)

A food label must be more than 20 percent off in order for it to violate federal law, and government food labs have a 10 percent margin of error. This means that an item labeled as having 400 calories can legally have up to 480 calories, plus there is the 10 percent testing margin of error.

Are Food Labels Accurate? Important Tips to Find Out What You’re Really Eating - Articles

P.S., if the article asks for an email address before you can view it, you can pretty much put [email protected] if you want, it's what I did, only with actual cuss words.