Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Nutrition Info

[metqa]

I was inputting Hershey's Cocoa Special Dark Cocoa into Fitday for my CO Cocoa bark recipe. It flagged it and said that the calorie information did not match the nutrient info. So I rechecked my math.

The Package (which I have poorly scanned) says this:

Serving Size 1 Tbsp (5g)
Calories 5
Calories from Fat 0
Total Fat 0.5g
Sodium 65mg
total Carbohydrates 3g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Sugars 0g
Protein 1g

Now according to Food Science, carbs and proteins provide 4 calories per gram and Fat provides 9 calories per gram. Therefore Fat (0.5g x 9cal) + carbs( (3g - 2gfiber) x 4 cal) + protein (1g x 4cal) = 4.5 + 4 + 4 = 12.5 calories. I know they round everything so it should either be 10calories or 20 Calories. Five Calories is nowhere close to this.

So I wrote a letter, I figured maybe my package was printed wrong. This was the response I got:

Thank you for contacting The Hershey Company.

HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Dutch Processed Cocoa had been tested for the
nutritional information and the calories are 5 per 1 tablespoon.

Hearing consumer comments like yours is important to us. The Hershey
Company has been in business for over 100 years because of consumers
like you. You are one of the reasons for our continued success. We will
share your comments with our Marketing Department. Visit our web site at
HERSHEY'S, the sweetest place online!


This email address is restricted for outgoing messages only. For that
reason, please do not respond to this email as the inbox is not
monitored.

We appreciate your loyalty as a consumer.



Jean Saldutti
Consumer Representative

005589383A

My BS meter started clicking, so checked the package label again, then I went to the website like they suggested. Well that proved to be yet another confusing revelation.

HERSHEY'S cocoa - HERSHEY'S

On this page it shows a nutritional panel and yet IT IS DIFFERENT THAN THE LABEL ALSO!

Not only does it state that the calories are actually 20g per Tablespoon, and that the calories from fat are 5g (which is truer) , but the sodium count is 30mg higher than the package states!
Well so much for truth in labeling and advertising. BTW, the opposite panel on the package also says that it contains 5 calories and 0g of fat, even though the nutrition panel deigned to include the half gram of fat in "actually" has. I don't know what to believe. But I do believe it is Dang Tasty in my cocoa bark. I'm going to put it into Fitday as 12.5 calories and leave it at that.

Somebody should have their pants set on fire.

[metqa]

Oh yeah, I called the number that said if the nutrition info differs to call. I'm on the phone now with a very nice young lady who wrote down the discrepancies between the label and the website and is going to check it out . . .

I'm on hold with really relaxing muzak playing. It sounds like the kind of music you'd hear while watching a waterfall of creamy chocolate flowing past you

. . .

She said that the FDA is changing the way it calculates nutrition and that the details on the package are actually correct. It just happened recently and that's why the package and the web info differs.

She was so nice and friendly that I didn't bother to point out that it still should add up to more than five. If the FDA says it is 5 calories then it MUST be true right?

I wonder . . .which nutrient no longer has caloric value? Well, it must be the fat, since it has zero calories from 0.5g of fat. So that subtracts 4.5 calories which makes it 8 Calories, and because it is less than 10, it can be rounded down to 5.

That must be it! Mystery Solved!

[LindaSue]

I looked up cocoa on the USDA site and they list three different kinds. I ran all three counts through the hidden carb calculator and this is the only one that came up with the right numbers:

1 TABLESPOON HERSHEY'S EUROPEAN COCOA
20 calories
1g protein
.5g fat
3g carbs
1g fiber

The hidden carb calculator came up with 2.875 carbs which is very close to 3 carbs.

These two came out with carb totals of less than 1 carb so they are incorrect. It's got to be the calories that are off since the other numbers are very similar to the Hershey's European cocoa except for the fiber. The hidden carb calculator doesn't take fiber into consideration so it has to be the calories that are wrong.

1 TABLESPOON UNSWEETENED COCOA
12 calories
1.06g protein
.74g fat
2.93g carbs
1.8g fiber

1 TABLESPOON UNSWEETENED COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI
12 calories
.98g protein
.71g fat
2.96g carbs
1.6g fiber

[jigglenomore]

Thanks so much, Linda Sue, for running this through for us!

[metqa]

Still, I makes me wonder who is changing the "rules" so that it comes out so wacky. Why can't they just put the numbers as they are. It's like vanity sizing. OOOOh look it is so low in calories, IF you just don't count half of the ingredients as caloric. OOOOH it's a low carb pizza, IF you only eat two bites.

And the thing about the sodium just stupifies me. Either it is in there or it isn't. Are they changing the methods for measuring sodium also?

Thanks Linda Sue, for popping in and revving the numbers. I'm still confused but I'm not gonna fret it either. My unsweetened cocoa has the same numbers you posted. At least it pretends to be accurate.

[jacksmixedtape]

So would you count 2g net carbs instead of 1g?

[metqa]

I'm gonna still count it as the packages says except for the calories which would be 1g net carb cause it claims 2g fiber. What say you Linda Sue

[feather319]

wow metga! I did that same thing! I wrote the company because 5 calories just didn't seem right to me. Thanks for clearing up the confusion!