WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - Consumers who have ever puzzled about whether their T-bone steak is worth the calories can put their minds at ease.
Starting Thursday, those nutrition labels found on almost all packaged foods can be found for ground meat and poultry. Forty of the most popular whole, raw cuts or meat and poultry, such as chicken breast or steak, also will have nutritional information either on the package labels or on display at the store, under a new Department of Agriculture rule.
The panels will list the number of calories and the grams of total fat and saturated fat in a product contains.
A ground or chopped product that includes on its label a lean percentage statement, such as "85 percent lean," and is not considered low in fat also will list its fat percentage.
The department's Food Safety and Inspection Service has required nutrition labeling since 1993 for products that are not raw or that contain more than one ingredient. (Reporting By Ian Simpson; Editing by Paul Thomasch)