Sugar-sweetened food is about to get a reality check with new rules for the Nutrition Facts panel on packaged goods.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized an updated design for the nutrition facts label Friday, the first major overhaul in more than 20 years to perhaps the biggest symbol used to measure a product's healthfulness.
Among the changes: a line that calls out added sugar, which research has shown increases risk of heart disease and contributes to obesity and diabetes. The current labels only list total sugar, a combination of added and natural sugar.
The labels will also make calorie counts larger and display serving sizes more in line with how much people actually eat.
The FDA says the rules better correspond with updated dietary guidelines and health research — for example, "calories from fat" will be eliminated because research shows the type of fat we're eating, such as trans fat or saturated fat, is more important than how many calories come from fat.
They also update recommended portions and corresponding nutrition information to realistically reflect what Americans actually eat, not what they should eat. A serving size of ice cream will be two-thirds of a cup, not half a cup; soft drinks will go from eight ounces to 12 ounces. In other cases, serving sizes may get smaller.
The changes represent a win for consumer advocacy and health organizations, which say the revised panel will help shoppers make smarter choices at a time when the majority of the U.S. population is considered overweight or obese.
"We must do more to make every American aware of how many calories they eat daily," American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown said in a statement.
Others are hopeful the changes will lead manufacturers to reformulate products to be healthier.
"With the line for added sugars...this has the potential to really drive consumer behavior," says Jim O'Hara, director of health promotion policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has been pushing the FDA to call out added sugar on food labels since 1999. "As consumers change their behavior, that will prompt the industry to change its recipes, its product formulation."
That's something many manufacturers have already started doing. General Mills has spent more than a decade reducing sugar in products advertised to children, such as yogurt and cereal. Soft drink and candy makers, whose products are considered among the main sources of added sugar in our diets, have also made pledges in recent years to lower their sweet factor.
The Sugar Association is not happy about the FDA's decision, and issued a statement that said the ruling "sets a dangerous precedent that is not grounded in science."
General Mills did not go into detail regarding how long it will take to update its packages, only saying "it will take some time to fully assess," in a statement to USA TODAY. Others, including Nestle and Coca-Cola, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PepsiCo declined to say when products with new labels will hit store shelves and referred to the Grocery Manufacturer's Association's statement on the issue.
"GMA shares FDA’s commitment to improving nutrition labeling regulations and it commends the agency’s significant investment of time and resources to update this important tool for consumers," said Dr. Leon Bruner, the association's chief science officer.
Food manufacturers have two years — until July 26, 2018 — to change packaging to meet the new rules, which don't apply to certain meat, poultry and processed egg products. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales get an extra year to comply.
