Front-of-Package Nutrition Information (proposed rule)- commonly called the 'Nutrition Info box' requirement.
United States (federal)- U.s Food Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland
Vendor and Product Properties, Norms and Preferences, Labelling
National
Citizens/Consumers, Businesses, Public Sector
Future
The proposal aims to make it easier for consumers to quickly assess the healthfulness of packaged foods by displaying key nutrient information (saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars) on the front of the package. The "Nutrition Info box" would require most packaged foods to display a simplified, at-a-glance nutrition label on their principal display panel, showing the percent Daily Value (%DV) of each of these nutrients and classifying them as 'Low', 'Med' or 'High'. The proposal also includes amendments to align 'low sodium' and 'low saturated fat' nutrient content claim regulations with updated nutrition science.
The Nutrition Facts label has been mandatory for most food packaging since 1994, and industry voluntary schemes (e.g. Facts Up Front) have existed, providing consumers with information about serving size, calories, and nutrients for the foods they are purchasing. The current regulations related to the Nutrition Facts label were most recently amended in 2016 to, among other things, require the declaration of added sugars. Consumers can use the current Nutrition Facts label to identify foods that contain more of the nutrients to get enough of and less of the nutrients to limit. This was driven by the fact that many Americans overconsume saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars, and that traditional back-of-package Nutrition Fact Labels are not always easy for consumers to interpret. The proposal is part of the FDA's efforts under its nutrition policy framework to improve diet quality and reduce chronic disease risk. In developing the proposal, the FDA used consumer focus groups, experimental testing of different formats, stakeholder input, and review of existing literature and global examples.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, through the office of Nutrition Policy and related division, is responsible for drafting , finalizing and enforcing the rule. Monitoring involves compliance checks on product labels, reviews of industry submission, management of complaints or reported violations, and periodic evaluation of how well consumers understand the information and whether it improves public health outcomes. The FDA also used a nutrients profiling system, which sets threshold criteria to determine which foods must display the front-of-package nutrition box each nutrient is classified as ´´´Low,`` ´´Medium,`` of ´´High.``
No large-scale results exist. The FDA's regulatory impact analysis projects costs for label updates (relabeling) and potential limited reformulation by manufacturers. The agency expects that consumer understanding and healthier choices may improve, and that the industry might respond by reformulating products to avoid 'High' labels. Challenges include resistance from industry, technical and logistic cost of relabeling, legal challenges (e.g. commercial free speech) and ensuring that small manufacturers and imported products can comply.