Clearly, if a conscientious shopper like Jakubowski could have been bamboozled by a food label, what’s happening to the rest of us? More than a third of all the new products introduced last year carried some kind of health-related buzzword or claim on the label-lite, 30 percent less fat and others-with no indications as to what those words really mean. No wonder Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan called the supermarket a “Tower of Babel.”
The Tower of Babel is about to start speaking English. Last week the Food and Drug Administration, in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, announced a sweeping new set of regulations designed to give consumers uniform and coherent information about virtually every food item in the supermarket. Under the regulations, everything from anchovy paste to frozen zucchini will bear a label giving complete nutritional information including total calories; calories derived from fat, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol; total carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates; sugars; dietary fiber; protein; sodium; vitamins A and C; calcium, and iron. Each category will be listed “per serving,” and serving sizes will be standardized. And that’s just the back of the label. For the front the FDA and USDA have established a dictionary defining such terms such as “free…… low,” “reduced, " “lite” and the like. The regulations also apply, on a voluntary basis, to fresh meat, produce and seafood– with information posted in the store or available in booklets. If compliance is poor after three years, it will become mandatory. “The phrase ’low fat’ will mean only one thing,” says FDA commissioner David Kessler, “and the product will be truly low in fat.”
Consumer groups praised the new regulations, as did the food industry, which must bring thousands of labels and/or products into compliance by May 8, 1993. “Consumers have shown over and over again that good nutrition is good business,” says Michael Mudd, vice president of corporate communications at Kraft General Foods.
The industry and the public have 90 days to comment on the proposals. Two seem certain to provoke criticism from food companies. The first is the FDA’s proposal to standardize serving sizes. A can of Campbell’s Homestyle Vegetable soup, for instance, now contains two and three quarter servings, according to the label–and each serving contains 880 mg of sodium, about a quarter of the daily maximum recommended by nutritionists. The FDA’s compendium of serving sizes has not yet been released, but if that same can of soup is redefined more realistically as one or two servings, the sodium content will look much worse.
Another trouble spot for industry is the FDA’s rule for health claims, such as “Made with oat bran, which helps reduce cholesterol.” The regulations permit only four health messages: those linking sodium with heart disease, fat with heart disease and/or cancer, and calcium with prevention of osteoporosis. Labels that link fiber with the prevention of cancer and heart disease–a view held by the National Cancer Institute–will not be permitted, although the FDA plans to study this issue further.
To shoppers, the supermarket of the future is going to look very different indeed, with labels plastered on everything except products too small to carry them. We’ll have to bring our grocery lists, our coupons-and our bifocals. There’s going to be a lot to read.
READ THE SMALL PRINT The food label of the future will be full of information for consumers who want to know what they’re eating.
Anything goes, at least within reason. A claim must truthful, nutritionally sound and supported by valid scientific evidence.
Only labels linking sodium with heart disease, fat with heart disease and cancer, calcium with osteoporosis, are allowed.
Terms such as “lite,” “reduced” and “diet” may be used to describe almost anything. If you can’t find lite lard, keep looking.
Only terms in the FDA’s new dictionary may be used. “Lite” means one-third fewer calories. “Fresh” always means raw.
Manufacturers create the portions to suit their needs. Hence the 12-ounce soda: two servings, low in sodium.
The FDA has developed standard serving sizes for 131 foods. Hence the 12-ounce soda: one serving, more sodium.
Only fortified foods and those for which health claims are made must report nutritional information on the side of the box.
All foods must carry a standardized list of nutrients, in a standard format, according to standardized serving sizes.
