Front-of-the-Label (FOP) labeling changes will play an important role in alleviating diet-related chronic illnesses, especially among Americans at the lower-tier of the economic pyramid, if the current show of approval by the public on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA)’s developments is anything to go by.
What does the law mean for the industry?
The original aim of standardizing the front food package labeling was to pressurize food companies to produce better nutritional products. The same applies today in the ever-increasing sensitization campaign on eating healthy.
In the latest developments, the FDA also proposes to equate its gains with what is happening in similar-minded countries. For instance, in Chile, a similar food labeling law that first came up in 2016 had potentially important lessons that the US can learn: Over the course of 7 years up to 2023, the law, which sought to subjugate sugars, processed fats, metals as well as caloric count on products, led to marginal improvements in, especially, children’s diet. Several changes that a journal highlighted as positive outcomes included decrement in the uptake of unwanted salts and harmful metals such as sodium.
Some of the possible ramifications for the industry, albeit still unraveling, include food industry opposition. It is indeed notable that as of 16 April, 2023, the FDA’s docket’s comment section showed an all-positive consumer reaction to the proposals but for one industry-related opponent: the Consumer Brands Association. Its commentary as to how FDA may not eventually have the bureaucratic ability to implement FOP labeling changes, besides other comments, is a show that the industry is already feeling the heat of the proposal.
The impact is reminiscent of the first attempts to label food in the United States. Even before the current proposal of FOP labeling changes, there had been long-term opposition to the basic idea of food labeling. As the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) reported in April, 2023, when FDA first came up with the need for food labeling, food companies rallied against food labeling as an economic expense, a bewilderment to the buyers and a violation of “the First Amendment,” among other reasons.
How did the mandatory FOP labeling proposal start?
In September, 2022, the US administration got petitions from the CSPI, highlighting the need to change the FDA’s labeling practice and hence live up to public expectations of true health information on product labels. The CSPI cited examples in South America, including that of Chile,a country that had implemented such a system on food labeling and advertising laws, eventually seeing a reduction of 10% in added sugar intake in that country.
Earlier that year, Senator Cory Booker had helped in the conception of the labeling changes that are now at their developing stage. He had foreseen a time when one could go to a market store and choose the most nutritional groceries without having second thoughts on such components as sodium as such information would be, already, on the front label of the packet in question.
President Joe Biden cast the first stone to the promised land when in end 2022, he signed an endorsement for FDA’s FOP food labeling design as an element of his administration’s National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. The administration announced that the FDA would standardize a packaged food labeling system that would help mainstream consumers discriminate against less healthier food choices. In September, 2022, the government would go on to propose a forty-four page road map that would focus on ‘hunger, nutrition and health.’
From that date on , the Food and Drug Administration’s docket of the Federal government’s regulatory portal has generated over seven thousand comments, with as many as 5,535 being live by 17 April, 2023. It is expected that food companies will need to update their standard information on labels if they are to ascertain that their FOP-labeled foods are worth the healthy price with which they tag them.
What is the latest status of the mandatory changes?
The law is yet to be implemented and it is currently undergoing an evaluation by the FDA insiders through a quantitative data analysis method, whereby the federal body gauges buyers’ feedback on the upcoming frontal labeling changes. First posted on the federal register site of the government on 26 January 2023, the survey invites a broad set of public commentaries on ‘Frontal of Package Labeling.” The focus of the research is to determine whether such comments are of practical importance to the FDA and of course, as a reinforcement on the need to feature relevant nutritional information on the front side of packaged food labels.
The Federal Register site further describes the spike in the number of chronic ailments as traceable to poor dietary regime, especially in economically and ethnically-deprived families in the United States, as the main reason for the change of labeling practice. Hence, packaged food ought to have, on top of the basic nutritional information on their labels, a scientifically-influenced guide to make the less-knowledgeable consumers choose their food purchases wisely. Furthermore, such wisdom should be made as instantaneous a choice as possible, by having the facts summarized on the label the first time the buyer inspects a package to buy.
As the FDA continues to gain more insights on the need for the FOP law to come into effect, many feel that the change will encourage healthier living among Americans. This will also aid to stem the current worrying trend which shows that the typical adult US citizen consumes 50% higher sodium and 40% higher added sugars than the daily recommendation.