Nutrition Facts Labels Will Receive An FDA Makeover

By Sam Lewis

Unchanged since the early 1990s, the FDA says food labels need to reflect the knowledge gained about nutrition over the last 20 years

The nutrition facts window on the labels of food products has remained unchanged since its introduction to the public back in 1993. Rumors have swirled about a change in the nutrition facts window, but now the FDA has confirmed the rumors are true and changes will be coming to the nutrition facts of food and beverage products. The guidelines have been sent to the White House, but the FDA has no estimate when the new labels will be released.

The labeling design efforts of the FDA are in hopes that consumers will easily understand the nutritional value of what they’re eating. The new labels aim to make information straightforward and valuable to consumers, rather than containing lists of confusing and sometimes unpronounceable substances. “There's a feeling that nutrition labels haven't been as effective as they should be,” says Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “When you look at the label, there are roughly two dozen numbers of substances that people aren't intuitively familiar with.” The new nutrition facts labels will place a large focus on caloric content and serving sizes rather than fat.

“The food environment has changed and our dietary guidance has changed,” says Michael Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for foods. Taylor — who was with the agency during the 1990s and the inception of nutrition labels — says that 20 years ago the focus of nutrition was on fat content and the different types of fat. Now, the focus is on calories and steering consumers away from saturated and trans fats, which were separated out on nutrition labels in 2006. “It's important to keep this updated so what is iconic doesn't become a relic,” says Taylor.

Other changes that may occur to nutrition labels have not yet been decided. Nutrition experts hope the FDA will create a new line in the nutrition window for sugars and syrups added in the creation of foods and beverages. Right now, some sugars are listed within the ingredients and others are not. Fulfilling the desires of nutrition experts when it comes to added sugar may be difficult for the FDA. Food and beverage manufacturers add naturally occurring sugars to products enabling the product to be labeled “natural.”

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