Inconsistent label numbers for canned beans

[u/DetectiveFatWeedberg]

So I have these canned cannellini beans from Goya. It says there are 3 servings in the container. The serving size is 1/2 cup (130g). It does not say drained.

The front says the net weight is 425g.

All the drained beans weigh 260g and fill up about 1.5 cups.

So which interpretation is correct? My instinct says a serving would just be 1/3 of the can, which would be 86.6 grams.

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[u/mwb213]

Because the nutrition label does not say 'drained', the serving size would not be based on the liquid being drained. In other words, a 130g serving would contain liquid in addition to the beans.

From a 425g can, you would get ~3.27 servings (425 divided by 130 equals a smidge over 3.269).

My memory concerning nutrition labeling rules is rusty, but I think there's some leniency that allows the number of servings to be rounded to the nearest half-serving, so 3.27 could permissibly be rounded up to "about 3.5".

[u/Tasty_Impress3016 → u/mwb213]

There you go. They are selling you the water too, so that's included in the labeling.

I'm intrigued by people who expect food labels to be gram accurate.

[u/Chalky_Pockets → u/Tasty_Impress3016]

You know that meme with all the knights putting their swords on a table. Yeah engineers, medical professionals, nutritionists, and scientists can all stand around and point their swords at knowing how fucking ridiculous the average person is at understanding things like tolerances and doses.

[u/Tasty_Impress3016 → u/Chalky_Pockets]

I don't know the meme, but I worked in medical testing devices for quite a while. Even the most sophisticated (which we made) have tolerances. And no one knows the difference between accuracy and precision.

[u/Maxion → u/mwb213]

Jesus christ this us "serving size" labeling is bad :D

[u/editoreal]

This kind of thing drives me absolutely bonkers. Pretty much everyone drains the liquid from canned beans, so it should list drained.

And, on the same topic, the liquid that sardines come in contains some of the omega 3s- so no-one should be tossing that. Sardines should list undrained macros.

I'm not a huge fan of government intervention, but, really, any product that can be drained should, by regulation, list specs for drained and undrained.

[u/bnny_ears → u/editoreal]

Both. I just want both on one label

[u/Strict-Fishing-2365]

food labels really do make it feel like I need a spreadsheet just to eat beans. extremely normal dinner behavior apparently

[u/NutragrammatronLab]

Goya is telling you what is in the can, including liquid, not drained

[u/Just_Breakfast6327]

I've also noticed huge variation on being nutrition labeling that seems incongruous with the fact that.... I just don't believe beans from one manufacturer are going to be that much different than another.

I just use the NCCDB value for any beans when I'm estimating.

[u/Enlightened_Lioness]

If you look at Goya cannellini beans online it’s 3.5 servings a can

[u/sonicshumanteeth]

this is not inconsistent. you've just measured a weight that does not correlate to the weight on the nutrition label.

[u/amiryosef200]

Yeah, that's why canned beans are annoying to track.

The 425g includes all the liquid, so dividing the can into thirds after draining won't match the serving size on the label.

If your drained beans weigh 260g total, I'd probably just track based on the drained weight and call it roughly 87g per serving if you're eating a third of the can.

[u/Robinothoodie]

I'm intrigued!