Last year, the FDA issued a proposed rule to implement several changes to the Nutrition Facts label on food packaging. The FDA recently issued a supplemental proposed rule that would, among other things, (1) require the Nutrition Facts label to declare the percent daily value (% DV) for added sugars and (2) change the current footnote on the Nutrition Facts label.
Added sugars: Under the supplemental proposed rule, the Nutrition Facts label would have to include the percent daily value (% DV) for added sugars. The FDA’s intention is to give consumers additional information for added sugars similar to information they have seen for decades with respect to nutrients such as sodium and certain types of fat. The percent daily value indicates how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. The percent daily value would be based on the recommendation that the daily intake of calories from added sugars not exceed 10 percent of total calories.
Footnote: The supplemental proposed rule would also change the current footnote on the Nutrition Facts label to help consumers understand the percent daily value concept. The proposed statement on the label would be shorter than the current footnote to allow for more space on the label and would state: “*The percent daily value (%DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.”
A copy of the proposed rule can be found here. Comments are due by August 26, 2015.
For more information, please contact the Barnes & Thornburg LLP attorney with whom you work or one of the following attorneys in the firm’s Food, Drug & Device Group: Lynn Tyler at (317) 231-7392 or lynn.tyler@btlaw.com; or Hae Park-Suk at (202) 408-6919 or hae.park.suk@btlaw.com.
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