The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed new rules for nutrition labeling on packaged foods and beverages, aimed at helping Americans make healthier choices at a glance.
Under the new rules, which could be seen by shoppers as early as 2028, food manufacturers will be required to include levels of saturated fat, sodium and added sugars on the front of the package, in addition to standard nutritional information on the back of the package. will be required to be displayed.
Lindsey Smith-Taley, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Studies, said packaged foods in the U.S. often come with many health and nutrition claims, making consumers unsure of what’s good for them. He said that it may be difficult to tell whether it is good or bad. Public health.
For example, fruit drinks may seem like a healthy option because they advertise high levels of vitamin C on the front of the bottle, but they also have added sugar, Smith-Taley said.
The idea is that by putting specific nutritional information directly in front of consumers, they are more likely to make health-conscious decisions.
The FDA’s proposed front-of-pack labeling would include the amount of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars and whether those amounts would be considered “low,” “moderate,” or “high.”
“I think people want to know this information to make the right decisions,” said Dr. Ian Gu, a nutritional epidemiologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.
But if people aren’t aware of how certain nutrients, such as saturated fat, can affect their health, the additional information won’t be of much use, Gu said, adding that people’s understanding of nutrition He added that more efforts need to be made to educate.
The FDA’s proposal comes amid high rates of diet-related chronic diseases in the United States, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for one in five deaths. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 1 in 10 Americans have diabetesmainly type 2 diabetes. And about 2 in 5 adults are obese, the CDC says.
“These diseases don’t come out of nowhere,” Gu said. “If people don’t know the science behind all these nutrients, they won’t pay attention to it.”
The FDA says the front-of-pack labeling 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.
Major food manufacturers will have three years after the rule is finalized to make changes to most of their products, the agency said. Small manufacturers will have an additional year to implement the changes.
The Consumer Brands Association, an industry group, opposes labeling requirements, saying the FDA is considering “plans that use arbitrary scales and symbols that could cause confusion for consumers.” There is.
Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy at the Consumer Brands Association, said in a statement that the organization is working on behalf of industry initiatives such as Facts Up Front, which allows food manufacturers to voluntarily summarize important nutritional information. He urged the agency to cooperate in this effort. Calories, saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars are listed on the front of the package. Gallo said the industry has also introduced SmartLabel, which allows consumers to access detailed nutritional information via a QR code.
Do labels influence consumer habits?
Putting nutrition labels on the front of the package is not a new concept, at least outside of the United States. dozens of countriesOther countries including the UK, Mexico, Chile, Australia and New Zealand have introduced similar measures.
In 2016, Chile mandated front-of-pack labeling warning consumers of high levels of sugar, saturated fat and other potentially harmful ingredients.
Brazil also implemented mandatory front-of-pack labeling on products in 2022.
Colleen Tewksbury, an assistant professor of nutritional science at the University of Pennsylvania, said research shows labels influence what people buy in those countries.
But these findings may not easily apply to the United States, where “individualism” is rampant and consumers “don’t want to be told what to do,” she said.
Often, the people who change their buying behavior are the ones who are already trying to make the change, she said.
“Research is relatively clear that very simplistic package labeling grabs people’s attention, but the second step to that is whether it changes purchasing behavior,” Tewksbury said. . “We don’t really know if it’s going to have a complete impact on people’s buying habits.”
