1st January 2022 has been established as the uniform compliance date for food labelling regulations by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The dead line is implemented to the food regulations that has been published on or after 1st January 2019 and on or before 31st December 2020. The FDA has been updating the compliance date periodically keeping in consideration that, updating the product package labels by making required changes in the labelling software will consume time for the manufacturers. Since science is evolving each day the food package labelling has been changed based on the current dietary recommendation and from the inputs received from the public and since 1994 it is the major change brought in the food package labelling.
Who should comply the earliest?
Manufacturers whose revenue is exceeding $10 million should comply by 1st Jan 2020. Manufacturers with revenue less than $10 million and those with a single supply must comply by Jan 2021.
What are the new changes in Labelling?
The Type of the calories and the serving size has been updated to larger and bolder type for easy reading. Also, the serving size has been updated to actual serving size consumed normally in society. It keeps the consumers informed about the actual calorie intake in a typical serving. Since the previous old labels mentioned an appropriate serving size in the product label which differed from the normal consumption of the society today.
The daily values have been updated. The new nutrition fact panel has been updated with the nutrients that are actually required and the format of listing the same has been changed.
Nutrients requirements has been updated to express the quantities in milligrams (mg) or micro grams (µg). It is noticed from the updated label that the vitamin A and C is removed because the deficiency of these wasn’t seen much in the society and has been replaced with iron, potassium and vitamin D.
A newly added category is a footnote, added at the bottom of the label which better describes what the Daily Value (DV) percent mean.
Added sugars is one category that has been newly added in the label. Which isn’t a naturally occurring sugar. It will affect the dietary pattern since over consumption of the added sugars will prevent the person from consuming the required dietary fibres and stay in the recommended calories. This change helps to stay within the daily caloric range. The added sugars in the product is expressed in grams as well as the percentile Daily Value.
How is the new label different from the prevailing one?
(Source: https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition/changes-nutrition-facts-label)
