With 45,000 products jamming store shelves in your average grocery store these days most labels only get a passing glance. But as Consumer Specialist Ric Romero found out, once people take the time to read the labels the confusion really sets in.

If you're trying to eat healthier buying food because of what's on the label may not help. As I found out when I teamed up with Consumer Reports, you may not always be getting what you're expecting.

At the grocery store, lots of people check labels for nutrition information, or the number of calories.

But you could still be in for some surprises after you check out. Consumer Reports' Leslie Ware hears from people all the time who send her food labels they find confusing.

One reader was perplexed by the picture on a Special K Fruit and Yogurt cereal box, which shows strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries along with the cereal. But when you pour out the cereal, there are no berries in sight.

In fact, the only fruit in Special K Fruit and Yogurt cereal are pieces of flavored apple.

Two cans of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup confused another reader. The can on the right is regular chicken noodle soup, while the one on the left is the "Healthy Request" version. The regular soup has one-and-a-half grams of fat, but the Healthy Request has more - two grams! It turns out the term "healthy" refers not only to fat, but to sodium and cholesterol, for example.

Another letter came in about Land O' Lakes whipped butter. On the old label, a tablespoon used to be nine grams, but on the new label a tablespoon is just seven grams. A reader wanted to know: When did a tablespoon get smaller?

"What Land O' Lakes said is that they whipped more air into the butter. So there's actually less butter per tablespoon, but more air," says Leslie Ware, Consumer Reports.

So if some food labels leave you confused, Consumer Reports says you're not alone.

If you're confused by a food label, the Food and Drug Administration's website can help you sort out the confusion.

By Ric Romero