The label is intended to help consumers more easily navigate nutrition labels and make better choices in grocery stores. The FDA said it aligns with nutritional science, updated nutrition labeling, and current dietary guidelines for Americans.
The FDA is also developing symbols that companies can voluntarily use to label foods that meet federal guidelines for the term “healthy.”
announcement came Ahead of Wednesday’s White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health.the meeting is This is because a summit hosted by the administration of President Richard M. Nixon in 1969 led to a significant expansion of food stamps, school lunches, and other programs that reduced hunger nationwide and provided an important safety net. Known for Pandemic.
In a statement this week, the White House said that once the FDA’s new system is complete, it will “distribute nutritional information through tools such as star ratings and traffic light schemes to promote equitable access to nutritional information and healthier choices.” By adding vegetables and whole grains, or by developing new products that meet the latest definitions, the system will enable “industries to make their products healthier.” You can also encourage them to do something,” he said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 in 10 American adults suffer from chronic lifestyle diseases, many of which result from obesity and an unbalanced diet. The CDC says these diseases are the leading causes of death and disability and are a major contributor to the $4.1 trillion in annual health care costs in the United States.
And the obesity epidemic is not going in the right direction: Studies show that obesity, especially among children, increased significantly during the pandemic. Children aged 5 to 11 saw the biggest change, gaining an average of 5 pounds or more. Before the pandemic, about 36% of children aged 5 to 11 were considered overweight or obese. during the pandemic It increased to 45.7%.
of In some Latin American countries, governments have enacted stricter food labeling laws and opposed sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods in an attempt to escape the obesity epidemic that has swept the United States. , foods high in sugar, saturated fat, calories and sodium should be labeled with a black stop sign. on the front of the package. Anything with a black stop sign may not be sold or advertised in schools or included in television advertisements directed to children.
Groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest have long petitioned the FDA to adopt mandatory, standardized, evidence-based front-of-package labeling. Front-of-pack nutrition labeling reaches more consumers than back-of-pack “Nutrition Facts”, helping them make more beneficial food choices faster and helping companies reconfigure their products in a healthier direction. Americans generally consume too much sodium, added sugars, and saturated fats in processed foods, so being able to quickly identify foods high and low in these nutrients is essential, according to nutrition experts. is of great public health benefit.
The Biden administration supports the FDA’s efforts to crack down on sodium intake, reinforcing the FDA’s announcement last year that food companies and restaurants will reduce sodium in food by about 12% over the next two and a half years. In parallel, the FDA is proposing to reduce Americans’ sugar consumption by “including potential voluntary targets” in sugar content for food manufacturers.
The new label language is sure to be controversial among food manufacturers looking to capitalize on Americans’ interest in healthier foods.
“The FDA’s definition of ‘healthy’ is clear and consistent for manufacturers and understandable to consumers,” said Roberta Wagner, spokeswoman for the Consumer Brands Association, a trade group. You will succeed only if you are
But what constitutes a “healthy” food is a touchy topic among nutrition experts. is considered “unhealthy”, but would artificially sweetened fruit snacks and low-fat sugar yogurt be considered “healthy”?
The proposal is not final and may face resistance from food manufacturers. Food manufacturers have sought to capitalize on the growing desire among consumers in recent years to eat healthier.
Sean McBride, founder of DSM Strategic Communications and former executive of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, said: “The final rule goes far beyond a simple definition and creates a de facto nutritional profile regulatory scheme that will determine how foods can be manufactured for decades to come, so the details are important.”
Peter Lurie, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says labeling the front of the package shows real promise, but it’s essential, simple, and nutrient-specific. He said such labeling would change consumer purchasing behavior and force companies to recalibrate their products to gain more favorable ratings. He said that unless the definition and labeling of healthy is very specific, some companies will force the system by “washing the health” to make unhealthy products look healthy. will try to operate
The FDA began a public process in 2016 to update “healthy” nutrient content claims on food labels.For example, during the Trump administration, the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Committee It was forbidden to consider the health effects of eating red meat, ultra-processed foods, and sodium.
Federal nutrition guidance is experiencing some major pendulum swings. For years, the recommendations were based on an intuitive but erroneous idea: eating fat makes you fat.
First defined by the FDA in 1994, “healthy” initially focused on fat content. In 2015, the agency sent snack bar maker Kind a warning letter about the company’s “healthy” label. The bar was mostly nuts and too much saturated fat. Nutrition experts and Kind have submitted a formal petition to the FDA to “update the regulations on the term health when used as a nutrition label on food labels” to reflect current science. did.
In 2016, the FDA reversed its position, allowing Kind to use the term “healthy” and announced that the FDA would reconsider its definition of the term.
New FDA guidance released this week automatically allows whole fruits and vegetables to be claimed as “healthy,” while prepared foods meet the criteria for nutritional requirements and include added sugars, sodium and saturated fats. must meet the percentage limit of
“Seven years after we filed our citizen petition, Kind is celebrating the FDA proposing an updated regulatory definition of ‘health,’” said Kind CEO Russell Stokes. said Wednesday. “Regulations that reflect current nutritional science and dietary guidelines for Americans are a victory for public health, and it’s a victory for all of us.”
Recent dietary guidelines emphasize plant-based diets such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. However, it simply states that cholesterol is “not a nutrient of concern,” scrapping the long-standing 300-milligram-per-day limit.
