Amy FriendMay 23, 2016

I was really excited to see that the FDA finalized the new Nutrition Facts label for packaged foods to reflect new scientific information, including the link between diet and chronic diseases. In my blog just last week on how to read labels and what to look for https://2bere-u.com/blog/understand-nutritional-facts-food/ I ended by saying “Stay tuned for my upcoming article on the recent developments with the FDA standard on labeling”.  And, here we have it!

In addition to reflecting new scientific information, the new label will have updated serving sizes to demonstrate changes in amounts of food consumed. The serving size will be more realistic to indicate how much people eat at one time. If the consumer is likely to eat the whole package in one sitting, as might be the case with a bag of chips, then dual column labeling is required. At a glance, one will be able to see how many calories they consumed whether they ate a serving or the whole container.  For packages between one and two servings, calories and other nutrients must be declared for the entire package because people typically consume the whole package in one sitting.

The change that I am the most excited about is “Added Sugars”! I have been hearing about this ever since I took my first nutrition class over a year ago. We all know there is natural sugar in food products that contain fruit. This sugar is accounted for on food labels, but it’s really the “Added Sugars” that we need to be aware of.  And, believe me, sugar is added to many items, including those that say “No Fat”. They have to add back in flavor somehow and they do it with sugar. Well, now, that added sugar has to appear on the label. You will see it indented on the next line after “Total Sugars”.  These are the sugars that you want to limit as much as possible. These are the sugars that are giving you cravings for more and contributing to chronic diseases!

Another very interesting update is that “Calories from fat” is no longer permitted. Type of fat is more important than the amount. I had an experience with this just last week. While shopping for the ingredients for a new recipe, I found myself holding two jars – one was almond butter and the other was coconut butter. Having heard so much about the health benefits of coconut I compared the two labels. It didn’t take long to see that 16 of the 18 grams of fat in the coconut butter were saturated fat – BAD FAT! Whereas only 2 grams of the 16 grams of fat in almond butter were saturated (4 grams were polyunsaturated fats and 10 grams were monounsaturated fats – GOOD FATS!). Almond butter was the clear winner!

While the new labeling is great news, it took a long time to get approved. It will take more time to actually see how businesses comply with the new ruling. The final rule gives small businesses, defined as having less than $10 million in annual sales, three years to comply. All others will have two years.

What I hope to see is a renewed interest from the average consumer in wanting to read labels because they are easier to understand. This will be in the best interest of our nation’s health and only help in the fight against obesity and chronic diseases. Don’t wait until the label actually changes to become a label reader. Start today because your health is too important to wait. Then you will appreciate the new changes all the more!

Amy