Evaluation of the Serving Sizes of Packaged Processed Food in Korea

This study was carried out to evaluate the adequacy of serving sizes of those packaged processed foods in Korea which are designed to provids one meal or snack for one person. There is a lack of data on reference serving sizes which are essential components in the nutrition information provided on food labels. After compiling the average weight of packaged processed foods available in the market in Korea, a questionnaire was formulated to evaluate the adequacy of the serving sizes on 56 packaged processed food items of 188products using 25 female university students as a consumer group. The results showed that 65.5% of the packaged processed foods had adequate serving sizes. In general, current packaged sizes for bread and carbonated drinks were found to be too large. The proposed reference serving sizes in this research appear to be somewhat different from the ones suggested by the Korean Nutrition Society s $7^{th}$ Recommended Dietary Allowances for Koreans and by the Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) in the U.S. The serving sizes suggested by the USFDA appear to be too large for beverages and too small for snack foods when these are applied to the Korean population. It is suggested that the size of beverages in the Korean market should be reduced, and smaller sub-packets of snacks (each for one serving) should be packaged in a larger pack, for ease of use of nutrition information by consumers as well as for the reduction of food waste. In the future, other representative population groups should be included in the determination of reference serving sizes.