Dr. Mike,
I’m in complete agreement with you that the label should not be ignored. I certainly never intended for my post to be interpreted to mean it should. I too look at the label, including the ingredient declaration when making a food choice. I’m afraid though, that over time, I’ve become quite cynical, and I likely prioritize label information differently than others, and that for me is OK.
The label is a legal document, but as you pointed out, it is one that it easily manipulated and used for the purposes of marketing. Reporting nutrients in Min. and Max. means the diets with very different nutrient profiles can have the same guaranteed analysis and IMO, there is for all practical purposes, no verification of the information a label contains.
I suspect that you, like me, have “caught” companies providing false information and know of diets that appeared stellar based on the ingredient list and other labeling information yet that when fed, resulted in death. There is always risk whenever we eat and I for one am grateful for the exhaustive catalog of foods on this site and the database of information that you have built. I use it regularly.
