October 26/New York/The New York Times -- Estimating sugar consumption is a tricky proposition, based loosely on an educated guess at how often sweet foods are actually eaten, versus thrown away, but in a move that has largely gone unnoticed, the Agriculture Department, keeper of the statistics on America’s sweet tooth, has employed new methodology that overnight shaved 20 pounds off its estimate and brought the number down to a precise 76.7 pounds. The decision raises questions about the entire notion of per-capita consumption just as the battles over sugar and sweeteners reach a peak.
“There’s such an implication of precision and accuracy in that decimal point -- boy, we’ve got this nailed now,” said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “But when you take a good look, it’s built on a foundation of sand.”