Nutrition Labeling Issues and Directions for the 1990s (1990) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 1-36
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From page 1... ...
The changes in food labels begun in the 1970s then represented a fundamental shift in regulatory philosophy and a major advance in consumer information, but from the perspective of 1990, they seem modest, incomplete, and outdated. Criticism of the nutrition content of food labels grew intense in the 1980s.
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From page 2... ...
No nutrition information appears on at least 40 percent of all packaged foods; nor does it accompany major segments of the food supply, including fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, seafood, and restaurant meals. Furthermore, the information that nutrition labeling does provide is incomplete and misfocused.
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From page 3... ...
Any system of food labeling reflects assumptions about the purposes of and audience for nutrition information. The Committee believes that nutrition labeling should provide consumers with information that they can use to make choices among and between foods based on nutritional value, prevent consumer deception by providing accurate information on the product quality, and provide manufacturers with incentives to improve food products by requiring full disclosure of the ingredients and nutrient values of their products.
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The final report of the conference addressed the regulation of food composition and labeling, criticizing FDA's approaches to standards of identity, marketing of substitute foods, and label statements relating to nutrition and long-term health. The report stressed the need to help consumers make wise food choices by providing more nutrition information on food labels.
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From page 5... ...
established by FOB but reduced them to a single set of numbers applicable to healthy adults. FDA's 1973 regulations prescribed a uniform sequence and format for disclosure of nutrition information in terms of serving size; servings per container; number of calories; amount of protein, carbohydrate, and fat (in grams per serving)
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From page 6... ...
Currently, only over half of packaged foods carry nutrition information. Other foods omitted from nutrition labeling include meat, poultry, and seafood; eggs; fruits and vegetables; and foods sold in restaurants, institutional food services, vending machines, and grocery store carryout food bars.
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Current fat intakes are about 36 percent of total calories, compared with the frequent dietary recommendation of 30 percent of total calories from fat. Dietary fats are considered to be a current public health issue due to their association with coronary heart disease (CHD)
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Curiosity about a new claim may lead to a specific food purchase. Medical advice to limit certain food components often leads to closer attention to nutrition information.
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PDA regulations mandate that all the required and any optional information on the nutrition information panel must be determined by direct laboratory analysis. A + 20 percent tolerance from label values is allowed.
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· FDA and USDA should certify data from the National Nutrient Data Barik or other appropriate sources regarding the nutrient content of fresh foods and foods sold in restaurants. FDA and USDA should allow considerable flexibility in the selection of analytical methods for label verification of nutrient content.
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Nutrition information on fresh foods would aid consumers in making appropriate food choices. However, providing nutrition information about fresh foods presents some special challenges.
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· FDA and USDA should allow flexibility in the format and the nutrition information required for labeling of fresh foods. · FDA and USDA should establish a joint committee to certify He data bases and acceptable methodologies for providing nutrient composition data for fresh foods.
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· FDA and USDA should define the categories and size of restaurant operations for which regulations based on the above recommendations are applicable. Foods Sold by Noncommercial Food Services In recent years, institutional food service operations have grown substantially as an increasing number of meals are being prepared, sewed, and consumed outside the home.
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From page 15... ...
The principal display panel of food packages may carry a statement on calories per serving and/or a descriptive term indicating that the product has fewer calories Han its counterparts in the marketplace. On the nutrition information panel, He caloric value for a single seeing of the food is expressed as the number of calories per serving.
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FDA and USDA should require the listing of calories per seeing from total fat, saturated fat, and unsaturated fat on the nutrition information panel. FDA and USDA should allow, as an option, the disclosure of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid contents per seeing in grams on the nutrition information panel.
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From page 17... ...
per serving in grams on the nutrition information panel. The term total carbohydrate should be used when carbohydrate components are listed, with these subgroups indent · FDA and USDA should allow, as an option, the listing of calories per serving from total carbohydrate, complex carbohydrate, and sugars on the nutrition information panel.
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The Committee recommends that: · FDA and USDA should require the disclosure of fiber content per serving in grams on the nutrition information panel under the term total dietary fiber. FDA and USDA should define He scope of foods from animal origin and other foods that contain little or no dietary fiber which should be exempted from this requirement.
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The Committee recommends that: · FDA and USDA should continue to require the disclosure of protein content per serving in grams on the nutrition information panel. However, protein should be moved to a position of less prominence.
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Any of these micronutrients, although most commonly calcium, iron, and vitamin C, are frequently featured on the principal display panel of foods by a descriptive term signifying their presence in a notable amount. Each of the seven vitamins and minerals, and any over voluntarily added, must be listed in the nutrition information panel as a percentage of the U.S.
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· FDA and USDA should establish standardized definitions for the terms used to describe the micronutrient content of foods on the principal display panel and these definitions should be the same as those used on the nutrition information panel as described for calcium and iron.
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, serving should continue to be He reference unit for presenting nutrition information on foods. Serving sizes should be expressed in common household measures, followed by the weight in grams (in parentheses)
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RDA are currently required to be declared on the nutrition information panel. Amounts are expressed in 2 percent increments up to the 10 percent level, 5 percent increments up to the 50 percent level, and 10 percent increments above 50 percent.
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Use of the descriptive terms on the nutrition information panel would require that micronutrient meet the following or similar criteria use of very good source of must provide, in a serving, more than 20 percent of the dietary standard for a given vitamin or mineral; use of good source of must provide, in a serving, 11 to 20 percent of the dietary standard for a given nutrient; use of contains must provide between 2 and 10 percent of the dietay shard for any nutrient; and a manufacturer would not be required or allowed to declare any nutrient present at less than 2 percent of the dietary standard. Ingredient Labeling The ingredient listing can be an important source of information about the nutrient composition of packaged foods.
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· When EDA and USDA test different basic formats for nutrition labeling, they should also seek information about consumer reactions to and use of different formats for depicting the ingredients in foods. Food Standards of Identity FDA has established standards of identity for nearly 300 foods, most which have existed since the 1940s and l950s.
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From page 26... ...
On the other hand, the potential for confusion, exaggeration, and outright deception has prompted some to argue that nutrient content claims should be forbidden altogether. The problem stems in part from failure of the current system to regular such claims in a systematic way.
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Each example that it undertook to evaluate seemed to present distinctive issues, and the judgments reflected in existing agency regulations and guidelines governing the use of specific terms seemed heavily influenced by precedents that cannot readily be appreciate It quickly became clear that the Committee's work schedule would not allow the sort of in-depth study of agency policy and commercial practice that would be necessary to formulate recommendations for defining individual terms. The Committee was also persuaded that the agencies themselves probably cannot expect to establish formal definitions for all of the terms that inventive marketers are likely to adapt or invent to describe the nutrient content of foods.
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From page 28... ...
In addition to the recommendations listed earlier on the mandatory and voluntary disclosure of nutrient content information, the Committee recommends that Serving size should be prominently displayed on the nutrition information panel and should appear in household units. The amount of the serving should appear in grams or milliliters in parentheses following household units.
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Educating Consumers to Use Nutrition Information on Food Labels Two general strategies have been described for promoting dietary change. Environmental or structural interventions are strategies that encourage positive behaviors by creating opportunities for action and removing barriers so that consumers can follow health-promoting behaviors.
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· Comprehensive nutrition education programs should be developed in order to help consumers to understand the information on food labels to enable them to plan diets and make appropriate food choices. Costs of Labeling Reform Any reform of food labeling to provide more complete nutrition information and any expansion of the coverage of current nutrition labeling requirements will impose costs on producers, manufacturers, retailers, and ultimately, consumers regardless of who is recommending reform.
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From page 31... ...
The Committee believes, however, that even without new legislation FDA could mandate nutrition labeling on all packaged foods. FDA's authority to prescribe the format and content of nutrition information, when it is required on food labels, appears well established as a means to prevent misleading labeling.
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This uncertainty is of concern to He Committee, because it believes that both federal agencies should require nutrition information for foods sold at least by limited-menu restaurants. Desirability of New Legislative Authority for Nutrition Labeling The foregoing discussion suggests why new legislation is, in pnnciple, desirable.
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From page 33... ...
Advantages of New Legislation An overriding advantage of new legislation is that it could lay to rest any doubt that FDA and USDA have the legal authority to mandate. nutrition labeling for all packaged foods and clarify this authority to require nutrition information in connection with the sale of many foods that currently are not affected by federal labeling regulations.
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From page 35... ...
Finally Congress should establish deadlines for adoption of new food labeling regulations by the agencies.
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