I heard there was a
new nutrition label?
What kind of changes
are being proposed?
- Prominent servings per container – bigger and bolded
- Prominent calories – bigger and bolded
- No more “Calories from Fat”
- Distinguishable natural verse added sugars
- Actual amounts of vitamins and minerals instead of just percentages
- Dual column format to display serving nutrition facts, but also nutrition facts for the whole container
- An alternate format:
- To include a “avoid too much,” and a “get enough,” section
Why?
The removal of “Calories from Fat,” is proposed because
current science has shown that the type of fat in a product is more relevant
than the overall total fat intake and therefore has no effect on the judgment
of the product’s “healthfulness.”
Consumers want to know if the sugars in their products are
natural or are added, therefore an “added sugars,” category will be added.
Currrently vitamins A and C, calcium and iron were mandatory
on the label. Based on a health analysis to determine essential vitamins and
minerals today, calcium and iron will still be mandatory with the additional
vitamin D and potassium. Vitamins A and C are optional now.
Prominent servings per container and calories will help
bring attention to the information and make the information easier to read and
find.
A lot of consumers will eat a whole container of a product,
such as a soda, rather than see its split into multiple servings. Therefore a
dual column label will show the nutrition for the whole container versus the
single serving.
Adding actual amounts of vitamins and minerals will help
consumer’s understand how much is in their product rather than trying to figure
out the percentage from the daily value.
Where can I go if I
want to comment on the new proposals?
Visit the Federal Register using this
link
When does the comment
period end?
June 2nd, 2014
When will we see
changes?
Companies have up to two years to put the new labels into
effect
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