Labels & Regulation

What the words on the front legally mean, what FDA and USDA allow, and the claims with no definition at all.

All Posts

The pumpkin costs 6 cents. The can costs 19.

Cost-outs

Sep 23, 2026

The pumpkin costs 6 cents. The can costs 19.

The pumpkin inside a $2.22 can costs about 6 cents and the steel around it costs 19. Everything else in the aisle wearing the word pumpkin, priced line by line against it.

The Food Manufacturing Guy

Coffee-mate costs less to make than half-and-half

Cost-outs

Sep 23, 2026

Coffee-mate costs less to make than half-and-half

What's in the bottle, how a plant builds a cream substitute out of soybean oil, and why the real thing sells for less

The Food Manufacturing Guy

Your cinnamon is almost certainly cassia

Cost-outs

Sep 23, 2026

Your cinnamon is almost certainly cassia

Which tree your cinnamon came from, what happens to the bark on its way into the jar, and the risk actually worth watching

The Food Manufacturing Guy

Cost-outs

Sep 23, 2026

The 100% parmesan had no parmesan in it

Why parmesan's 10 month clock shapes every canister on the shelf, and what the plant does to the cheese on its way into the shaker

The Food Manufacturing Guy

The Philadelphia in the tub isn't cream cheese

Cost-outs

Sep 23, 2026

The Philadelphia in the tub isn't cream cheese

What one word on the tub changes, and where in the plant that change is made

The Food Manufacturing Guy

Triple washed salad is washed in chlorinated water

Cost-outs

Sep 23, 2026

Triple washed salad is washed in chlorinated water

What actually happens to a bag of spring mix between the field and the shelf

The Food Manufacturing Guy