by The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed a new rule for nutrition labels on packaged foods and drinks that would help Americans make healthier choices at a glance.
Under the new rule, which shoppers could see as early as 2028, food manufacturers will have to list saturated fat, sodium and added sugar content on the front of packaging.
Packaged foods in the U.S. often come with a variety of health and nutritional labels, which can make it confusing for consumers to know what’s good or bad for them, said Lindsey Smith Taillie, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University’s Gillings School of Global of North Carolina Public Health.
Fruit drinks, for example, might advertise high vitamin C content on the front of the bottle, making them seem like a healthy choice, but at the same time they are loaded with added sugar, Smith Taillie said.
The idea is that by providing specific nutritional information directly, consumers are more likely to make health-conscious decisions.
The FDA’s proposed front-of-package label will include the amounts of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars and indicate whether these amounts are considered “low,” “medium,” or “high.”
“I think people want to know this information so they can make good decisions,” Dr. Yian Gu, a nutritional epidemiologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.
However, the additional information won’t be of much use if people are unaware 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 diet.
The FDA’s proposal comes amid high rates of diet-related chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease in the United States. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for one in five deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one in ten Americans has diabetes, mostly type 2 diabetes. And about two in five adults are obese, 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, the front-of-package labels will not take effect immediately. The proposal includes a 120-day comment period, after which the agency may make additional changes to the proposal or finalize the new rule.
Large food manufacturers will have three years after the rule takes effect to make the changes to most of their products, the agency said. Smaller manufacturers will be given an additional year to implement the changes.
The Consumer Brands Association, an industry trade group, opposed mandatory labeling, saying the FDA was considering “systems with arbitrary standards 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 instead pushed the agency to collaborate on industry-led initiatives, including Facts Up Front, which allows food manufacturers to voluntarily summarize key nutritional information — such as: B. Calories, saturated fat, sodium and added sugars – on the front of the packaging. The industry has also introduced SmartLabel, which allows consumers to access detailed nutritional information through QR codes, Gallo said.
Will the labels impact consumer habits?
Placing nutrition labels on the front of packages is not a new concept – at least outside the US. 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 to alert consumers to high levels of sugar, saturated fat and other potentially harmful ingredients.
In 2022, Brazil also introduced mandatory front-of-package labels for products.
Colleen Tewksbury, an assistant professor of nutrition science at the University of Pennsylvania, said research has shown that labels actually influence what people buy in these countries.
However, she said those findings may not translate as easily to the U.S., where “individualism” prevails and consumers “don’t want to be told what to do.”
She said often the people who are changing their buying behavior are those who are already looking for change.
“Research shows fairly clearly that very simplified packaging labeling gets people’s attention, but the second step to that is whether or not it changes purchasing behavior,” Tewksbury said. “We really don’t know if it will fully impact people’s purchasing habits.”
This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:
This actually answered my drawback, thank you!
I’m very happy to read this. This is the kind of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this best doc.