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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday proposed requiring front-of-package nutrition labels, also known as nutrition facts boxes, for most packaged foods. The agency is accepting public comments until May 16.
“If finalized, this proposal will provide consumers with easily accessible information about the saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars in foods,” the FDA said in the announcement. The label indicates whether the product is at a low, medium, or high category level.
Once the rule is finalized, food manufacturers with annual food sales of at least $10 million will be required to add a nutritional information box to the front of their packaging after three years. For companies that fall below this standard, it will take effect four years from the effective date.
Asked at a press conference Tuesday about expectations that the rule could be finalized under the new administration, Robin McKinnon, acting director of the FDA’s Center on Nutrition, said simply that “diet-related disease is an urgent problem” and that “we are developing this proposal.” “Issuing it,” he said. The rules have long been a top priority for the agency.”
When President-elect Donald Trump nominated Marty Makary to be the next FDA Commissioner, he emphasized the need to address the “chronic disease epidemic.”
The FDA said the move is part of the government’s nutrition priorities to combat chronic diseases, which it says are some of the main drivers of $4.5 trillion in annual health care costs in the United States.
“Food should be a means to health, not a cause of chronic disease,” Jim Jones, FDA deputy commissioner for human foods, said in a statement. “In addition to our goal of providing information to consumers, we may also see manufacturers reformulating their products to be healthier in response to front-of-pack nutrition claims.”
A front-of-package plan has been part of the FDA’s to-do list for years. The FDA has launched a research effort in 2023 to inform the design. The American Beverage Association and Consumer Brands Association were among the groups participating as the FDA worked on preliminary steps for this initiative.
Specifically, the FDA conducted consumer focus groups, scientific literature reviews, and peer-reviewed experimental studies. The agency said. An experimental study of approximately 10,000 American adults provided insight into how consumers respond to three types of labels. A black-and-white “nutrition facts” design with a “per daily value” percentage was found to be most effective in helping consumers identify healthier food options.
The FDA’s proposal Tuesday supplements the agency’s December final rule that redefines which foods can voluntarily be labeled “healthy.” The agency is developing symbols that manufacturers can use on packaging to indicate the “healthy” status of their products.
Another packaging labeling-related announcement that the Biden administration has yet to deliver is an update to the Green Guides, the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines for the use of environmental marketing claims such as “sustainable,” “recyclable” or “compostable.” The FTC’s press office previously declined to estimate the timing of a potential update.
