Misleading Zanto Pizza Labels
 

So this past week, I discovered what I thought was a super-tasty low-cal pizza. Zanto 8" frozen pizzas, available in Cheese, Plum Tomato & Basil, Buffalo Chicken and Spinach Florentine.

Trying to figure out the Points gave me pause though...

From the Spinach Florentine Pizza:

Serving Size 1/2 Pizza
Servings per package 2
Calories 110
Calories from Fat 40

Amount/Serving
Fat 16 grams
Carbs 31 grams
Protein 15 grams
Fiber 2 grams

But with 9 calories per Fat gram and 4 calories per Carb and Protein gram, added up, that is 328 calories per serving. So the whole 8" pizza is 656 calories, way more than the 220 it says at first!

I wrote to the company via their website to try and find out the real deal, but got no reply. My mother, an old Weight Watchers pro, thought there was no way it could be 656 calories. But I did find an 8" pizza listing at Livestrong/The Daily Plate for 900 calories total (Digiorno Pepperoni) so I'm guessing my spinach one might really be 656 calories.

Yep, I ate 8 of those, in mixed flavors, over the entire week, and now I know my week's Points total should be 56 Points higher than I initially thought. YOWSA. I suspected that was too good to be true ;)

So just a warning to anyone out there who has also found these! :lol:

My recalculated Points for the whole 8" pizzas, based on the 2nd part of the labels:
Spinach Florentine = 15 Points
Buffalo Chicken = 17 Points
Plum Tomato & Basil = 12 Points

I didn't get the Cheese one, or I'd post that for you too :)

I entered the info you posted in to the online calculator:
Cal: 220
Fat: 32
Fiber: 4

This came out to 6 points for the entire pizza. It looks like you may be okay. I don't understand how you are calculating. Total calories are already totalled so you do not need to add anything additional for fat, protein and carbs.

She didn't add anything to those already totalled, she checked their math and it doesn't add up.

I do this all of the time. Usually it's very close. My numbers and theirs match up pretty closely. Occasionally some manufacturers will count the fiber as calories (because fiber has calories, but humans can't digest it, so it doesn't really count unless you're a cow or a termite or some other critter who can digest cellulose).

with only two grams of fiber per serving, that doesn't seem to be the likely issue (as there's only be an 8 calorie discrepancy per serving).

Another source of error is sometimes the weight of the item. It will say "about 2" servings and it may actually be anywhere from 1.5 servings to 2.5 servings.

Also if a weight and a volume is listed, usually go by the weight (For example 1/2 cup and 70g).

I have two frozen desserts in my freezer right now. One is sherbet and the other is frozen yogurt. Both labels read serving size 1/2 cup 120 calories, but the yogurt lists 1/2 cup (70g) and the sherbet 1/2 cup (86g)

When I weighed them out seperately, you could see that the sherbet was a larger "about a half cup" than the yogurt's "about a half cup). There may have been only about a tablespoons or two's difference, but you could see it.

When a gram weight is listed, I always use my digital scale to measure that amount, because I know it's the amount the lab would have used for calculating the calories.

I'd also look for fruit sugar alcohols (like malitol, anything for that matter ending in -ol), because the theory is that "some" of those calories don't need to be counted (like the fiber). The problem is the experts can't agree on how many of the calories don't need to be counted, because it seems that when they've tested people some people can digest more than others.

How would that look on a label, "This product contains 250 to 300 calories, depending on how well you can digest it."

Thanks for the clarification. This is scary that they can "miscalculate"!! This is freaking me out now, I'll definitely be more dilligent about checking labels!

That's awful. Did they ever reply?

Nope, they never did ;) I'm thinking they are on the higher end of the calories, just to be on the safe side!

Woah. You ladies just blew my mind with all this calorie math! Waaay over my head- but probably something I should consider learning soon!

Zantos is so yummy :) U have seen those pizzas but wasnt sure how they would be