If you’re a fan of using frozen Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice and South Beach Living meals to control your caloric intake — you might be interested to know that a news study says the dinners have eight per cent more calories than the labels said.

From the AP:

The researchers and other experts aren’t accusing restaurants and food companies of trying to deceive customers. They said most of the discrepancies can be explained by variations in ingredients, portion sizes and testing methods

In addition to the frozen foods, the study showed that restaurant meals had calorie counts that were much more inaccurate — an average of 18% higher than advertised.

Domino’s thin-crust pizza actually had 1/3 fewer calories, while the restaurant chain Denny’s is objecting to the study’s claim that their grits have 3 times as many calories as advertised.

The FDA allows a 20% margin of error. Is >20% either way a big deal to you?

Study says restaurant food often has more calories than advertised [AP]

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