More than two years after Harvard University Dining Services initiated its "Nutrition Bites" program, some students are wondering whether they can trust the nutritional information cards accompanying the food in the dining halls.

"Either the cards are frequently wrong or HUDS wants us to die," says Scott L. Shuchart '97.

Shuchart says he tries to maintain a low-fat diet, but he is often incredulous of the nutritional data on the signs.

He cites the example of broccoli souffle, a dish served in the dining halls that contains more than 40 grams of fat per serving.

"If they're right, it's lethal, and if they're wrong, it's careless," he says.

Faulty Labelling

Campus Executive Chef Michael D. Miller acknowledges that the information on the cards is sometimes faulty, but he says the cards are constantly reviewed and corrected.

"I couldn't swear to the accuracy of 100 percent of them, but we try to update them continually," he says. "Anything we do in dining services, we encourage student input. If they question something that we're doing, [they should] ask those questions and let us look into it and find a solution."

Director of Dining Services Michael P. Berry says the program is basically achieving its stated goal of educating students about healthy eating, despite the inaccuracies on some of the cards.

"We have had issues where clearly our analysis wasn't right," he says. "Students would bring those up, and we'd review them and change those right away."

When the program began in September 1993, Dining Services invested $15,000 in a computer program containing the complete database of the United States Dietary Association's food composition tables, Berry says. The program allows Dining Services to analyze its recipes for 38 nutrient values.

The thousands of "Nutrition Bites" cards printed by Harvard Press also cost about $15,000, Berry says.

In addition, Berry hired Shirley S. Hung, a doctoral student in nutrition and epidemiology at the School of Public Health, as the nutrition consultant for "Nutrition Bites."

Although Hung spent last summer working with the computer program to verify the nutritional values for Harvard's menu items, several errors were apparent in an informal week-long survey of dining halls.

A three-ounce serving of rice pilaf, for example, served at dinner on January 18, contained 42.89 calories and 4.81 grams of fat, according to the sign. Since one gram of fat is equivalent to nine calories, that means the dish contained 43.29 calories from fat--more calories from fat per serving than total calories.