Food Labels Get an Update
In May of 2016, new standards for nutritional labeling were created by the FDA. To increase visibility of the most important labeling items, the label artwork needed to be revised. Since the last update was put into action in the 90’s, current eating habits and what consumers find most important on the labels has changed significantly.
The deadline for companies to update their labeling is the end of July this year for those that have annual sales of over $10 million. For companies that make less than $10 million annually, an art update is due by July of 2019.
Here are some of the main changes the update requires:
- Increase in the type size for “Calories”, “servings per container”, and “serving size”.
- Manufacturers must declare the actual amount, in addition to percent daily value, of Vitamin D, Calcium, Iron, and Potassium.
- Slight change in the footnote to better reflect what “percent daily value” means.
- Serving sizes are being updated to better reflect realistic serving sizes of today’s trends.
- Certain products will require “dual column” labels to indicate both the “per serving” and “per package”/ “per unit” nutritional information.
If you would like to see the full article or learn more about nutritional labeling standards, please click on the link below.
https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FDA-2012-N-1210-0875
