It seems to me that what she really had to explain was "calorie" whereas kilojoule was almost an aside for international readers. Our food labeling laws require that the kilocalorie shall be used and it shall be called calorie. That is confusing. If you don't understand the unit you are starting with, it is harder than normal to convert to kilojoules (which may NOT be legally used here on nutrition labels). (It may be allowed as supplemental, but not to replace mislabelled kilocalories.)
________________________________ From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, February 24, 2010 3:00:24 AM Subject: [USMA:46748] NY Times and kilojoules Dear All, It is only a small mention in the first paragraph of the Notes but the editor at the NY Times actually felt that they had to explain the meaning when they used kilojoules. Here is the paragraph: The term “calorie” sometimes causes confusion. Most people, when referring to the energy content of food, use “calorie” instead of “kilocalorie” — which is the actual unit that food energy is measured in. When I refer to 30 calories, I am following this convention and therefore technically mean 30 kilocalories. For metric system users, that’s about 125 kilojoules. To see this in context go to http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/stand-up-while-you-read-this where you might be concerned about the ideas in the article. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, that you can obtain from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/ to subscribe.
