The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed requiring a front-of-package nutrition label — also known as a nutrition info box — for most packaged foods. The agency is accepting public comments until May 16.
“If finalized, the proposal would give consumers readily visible information about a food’s saturated fat, sodium and added sugars content — three nutrients directly linked with chronic diseases when consumed in excess,” FDA said in its announcement. The label would show whether a product had low, medium or high levels of these categories.
If the rule gets finalized, this would force food manufacturers with at least $10 million in annual food sales to add the nutrition info box to the front of their packaging three years later. For businesses below that threshold, it would come into force four years after the effective date.
Asked during a press conference Tuesday about expectations the rule could be finalized under a new administration, Robin McKinnon, acting director of FDA’s Nutrition Center of Excellence, simply said that “diet-related disease is an urgent issue” and “developing and issuing this proposed rule has been a high priority for the agency for a long time.”
When President-elect Donald Trump tapped Marty Makary to be the next FDA commissioner, he highlighted the need to address a “chronic disease epidemic.”
FDA said the move is part of government nutrition priorities to combat chronic diseases, which the agency called some of the leading drivers of the United States’ $4.5 trillion in annual healthcare costs.
“Food should be a vehicle for wellness, not a contributor of chronic disease,” said Jim Jones, FDA deputy commissioner for human foods, in a statement. “In addition to our goal of providing information to consumers, it’s possible we’ll see manufacturers reformulate products to be healthier in response to front-of-package nutrition labeling.”
The front-of-package initiative has been part of FDA’s to-do list for several years. FDA launched a research effort in 2023 to inform design. The American Beverage Association and Consumer Brands Association were among the groups that weighed in when FDA was working on preliminary steps for this initiative.
Specifically, FDA conducted consumer focus groups, a scientific literature review and a peer-reviewed experimental study. The agency said an experimental study with nearly 10,000 U.S. adults offered insights into how consumers responded to three different types of labels. It found that a black and white “Nutrition Info” design with the percent “Daily Value” was most effective in helping consumers identify healthier food options.
FDA’s proposal Tuesday complements the agency’s final rule in December redefining what food products can be voluntarily labeled “healthy.” The agency is still developing a symbol that manufacturers could use on packaging to represent a product’s “healthy” status.
One other packaging labeling-related announcement that the Biden administration has yet to deliver is an update to the Green Guides, the Federal Trade Commission’s guidance on the use of environmental marketing claims like “sustainable,” “recyclable” or “compostable.” FTC’s public affairs office has previously declined to estimate the timing of potential updates.
