Nutrition labels are seen on food packaging in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | fake images
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed a new rule for nutrition labels on packaged foods and beverages that aims to help Americans make healthier choices at a glance.
Under the new rule, which shoppers could see as early as 2028, food manufacturers will be required to display levels of saturated fat, sodium and added sugar on the front of packaging, in addition to standard nutrition labels on the back.
Packaged foods in the U.S. often come with a host of nutritional and health claims, which can make it confusing for consumers to know what's good or bad for them, said Lindsey Smith Taillie, a nutritional epidemiologist. from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Sciences. Public health.
Fruit drinks, for example, may advertise high levels of vitamin C on the front of the bottle, making them seem like a healthy option, but at the same time, they are loaded with added sugar, Smith Taillie said.
The idea is that by presenting certain nutritional information directly to consumers, they will be more likely to make health-conscious decisions.
“We believe food should be a vehicle for well-being, not a contributor to chronic disease,” Rebecca Buckner, FDA's deputy associate director for human nutrition policy, said on a call with reporters.
The FDA's proposed front-of-package labeling will include the amount of saturated fat, sodium and added sugars and whether those amounts are considered “low,” “medium” or “high.”
FDA officials said the label it received was backed by science, including a body of research, consumer focus groups and an agency-led study of nearly 10,000 adults that looked at how people responded to several possible designs.
The proposed front-of-package labels will include saturated fat, sodium and added sugar, as well as whether the product contains high, medium or low amounts of nutrients.
US Food and Drug Administration
Saturated fat, sodium and added sugar were chosen as the three nutrients because research shows they are major contributors to chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, Buckner said.
“I think people want to know this information to help them make good decisions,” said Dr. Yian Gu, a nutritional epidemiologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.
However, additional information won't do much good if people aren't aware of how certain nutrients, such as saturated fat, can affect their health, Gu said, adding that more work needs to be done to educate people about their nutrition.
The FDA proposal comes amid high rates of diet-related chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, in the U.S. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and They represent 1 in 5 deaths, according to the Centers. for Disease Control and Prevention. About 1 in 10 Americans has diabetes, primarily type 2 diabetes. And about 2 in 5 adults have obesity, according to the CDC.
“These diseases don't come out of nowhere,” Gu said. “If people aren't aware of the science behind all this nutrition, they won't pay attention to it.”
According to the FDA, front-of-package labels will not take effect immediately. The proposal includes a 120-day comment period after which the agency can make additional changes to the proposal or finalize the new rule.
Large food manufacturers will have three years after the rule is finalized to make changes to most of their products, the agency said. Smaller manufacturers will have an additional year to implement the changes.
While that is not the FDA's intent with food labels, Buckner said the new rules may cause food manufacturers to reformulate their products so they can move into the “low” or “medium” categories.
The Consumer Brands Association, an industry trade group, has opposed mandatory labeling, saying the FDA is considering “schemes with arbitrary scales and symbols that could cause confusion among consumers.”
Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy at the Consumer Brands Association, said in a statement that the group has pushed the agency to collaborate on industry-led initiatives, including Facts Up Front, which allows food manufacturers to summarize voluntarily displays important nutritional information, such as calories, saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars, on the front of the package. The industry has also introduced SmartLabel, which allows consumers to access detailed nutritional information through QR codes, Gallo said.
Will labels affect consumer habits?
Putting nutrition labels on the front of packages is not a new concept, at least outside the U.S. Dozens of countries, including the United Kingdom, Mexico, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, have implemented similar measures.
In 2016, Chile introduced mandatory front-of-package labels, alerting consumers to high levels of sugar, saturated fat and other potentially harmful ingredients.
In 2022, Brazil also implemented mandatory front-of-package labels on products.
Colleen Tewksbury, an assistant professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, said research has shown that labels influence what people buy in those countries.
However, he said, those findings may not translate easily in the United States, where “individualism” prevails and consumers don't “want to be told what to do.”
Often, he said, the people who change their purchasing behavior are the ones who were already looking to make changes.
“The research is relatively clear that having a very simplistic front-of-pack labeling gets people's attention, but the second step is whether or not it changes purchasing behaviors,” Tewksbury said. “We really don't know if this will have a full impact on people's shopping habits.”
