A Saudi student renting a room at my girl friend’s was really happy because he had finally worked up the courage to go to the supermarket alone and had returned with a couple of bargains including “fat free” milk. He was really proud of this accomplishment because he likes his milk with all of the cream (unprocessed fat) in it and thought he had found that and more since he got the “fat for free”.

This story started me thinking of all of the things that are sold “fat free” like certain cuts of beef, yogurt, cottage cheese, hamburger meat, and a miriad of other products and wondered whether these misconceptions in labeling are taking advantage of all of us.