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Home » Opinion: Why the food industry should welcome front-of-pack nutrition labeling
Opinion: Why the food industry should welcome front-of-pack nutrition labeling
04/18/24 12:22 PM By Nancy Brown
Keywords: American Heart Association, Consumer Health, FDA, Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labeling, Good Nutrition, Nancy Brown, U.S. Based Products
“As consumers shop for healthier food, they encounter confusion and frustration,” former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan remarked in 1990. Dr. Sullivan was lamenting the inadequate state of food labeling, which he said required consumers to be “linguists, scientists, and mind readers” as they perused shelves and tried to make healthy selections.
The bipartisan Nutrition Labeling and Education Act passed by Congress that year led to the creation of the Nutrition Facts label that now appears on billions of food and beverage products. It was a landmark step, but more than three decades later; the United States continues to experience high rates of diet-related illness and disease that contribute to astonishingly high healthcare costs and put a drain on the economy — in part because consumers still struggle to determine whether the products they buy are healthy. To make it easier for consumers to make healthy choices, the United States should adopt a mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labeling system that gives consumers clear, concise, and easy-to-find information about their food options. And the food and beverage industry should welcome front-of-pack labeling and join the cause. Making it easier to identify healthy choices is good for consumers, improves overall health, and benefits the healthcare system and the economy.
Good nutrition starts with education. Appearing on more than 6.5 billion products, the current Nutrition Facts label includes the number of calories and servings for a given product, specific nutrients, and how much those nutrients contribute to an overall daily diet. People who use the label buy more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains — and fewer sugary drinks — compared to those who don’t. Recent changes to the label, such as the inclusion of added sugars, have made it stronger.
The problem is that fewer than 1/3 of consumers report using it. Those who do tend to be white, with higher incomes and more education; among its most infrequent users are p
