Civil Eats

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in the process of revising the nutritional facts label, that rectangular box of information outlining the calories, serving size, and percent daily values on packaged food products.

The black and white nutritional facts label was first standardized in 1994, after the passage of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, which mandated food product packaging to clearly state fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium content. Since 1994, little about the label has changed other than the addition of trans-fats in 2006. The Obama administration has prioritized making nutritional information easier for consumers to understand. In February 2010, the FDA asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM), an independent nonprofit scientific organization, to examine front-of-the-package nutrition rating systems and evaluate how consumers understand front-of-the-package labeling. The IOM is expected to release its report this fall.

Last year, Michelle Obama told the Grocery Manufactures Association (GMA), “We need clear, consistent, front-of-the-package labels that give people the information they’ve been asking for, in a format they understand.” In response, the GMA and the Food Marketing Institute on January 24 launched a brightly colored new label that is already beginning to show up on food packages across the country. Read More

I have to hand it to Monsanto. A company representative on Twitter recently engaged me in a dialog about whether labeling products containing GMO food would do any harm, and, if so, to whom.

While the dialog felt like another cut-and-paste debate between me and previously published Monsanto paraphernalia, it offered just enough information about how Monsanto defends against mandatory GMO labeling. Clearly, anyone informed about consumer sentiments regarding GMO food knows that such labeling would devastate Monsanto and other GM seed companies’ bottom line. Which explains the vigorous, even suffocating effort by Monsanto to control the conversation. Read More

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told several consumer groups yesterday in a conference call that he will ask the meat industry to voluntarily follow stricter guidelines for new package labels designed to specify a food’s country of origin. If the industry does not comply, the administration will write new rules, reported the AP. Read More