The FDA is on a roll this week! Fresh off of finally banning red dye No. 3 from food and drinks, the administration is now proposing a radical change to food labels. Well, not so much a change as an addition. The FDA wants simplified, front-facing labels on all food items that clearly indicate low, medium, or high levels of only three nutritional components: saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars. Those are the three ingredients, they say, that are most related to the leading causes of death and illness in the US, among them heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. So, will seeing that nutritional info in the front really deter Americans from buying certain foods? Here’s why the FDA thinks it will:
On Tuesday, Jan. 14, the agency proposed a new front-facing label for most food and drinks to help consumers easily identify healthier food choices. The labels would be called a front-of-package nutrition label and give “consumers readily visible information about a food’s saturated fat, sodium and added sugars content.”
Those three nutrients, the FDA said, are “directly linked with chronic diseases when consumed in excess.”
The proposed label — developed from a literature review, focus groups and an experimental study — would plainly show whether the food has low, med, or high levels of saturated fat, sodium or added sugars, and complement the current nutrition facts label.
The FDA states that “chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer and diabetes, are the leading cause of disability and death in the U.S.,” further noting that 60% of Americans have at least one chronic disease.
“The science on saturated fat, sodium and added sugars is clear,” FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D said in a statement. “Nearly everyone knows or cares for someone with a chronic disease that is due, in part, to the food we eat. It is time we make it easier for consumers to glance, grab and go. Adding front-of-package nutrition labeling to most packaged foods would do that. We are fully committed to pulling all the levers available to the FDA to make nutrition information readily accessible as part of our efforts to promote public health.”
Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy director for human foods, added, “Food should be a vehicle for wellness, not a contributor of chronic disease. In addition to our goal of providing information to consumers, it’s possible we’ll see manufacturers reformulate products to be healthier in response to front-of-package nutrition labeling. Together, we hope the FDA’s efforts, alongside those of our federal partners, will start stemming the tide of the chronic disease crisis in our country.”
If finalized, the proposed rule would require large food manufacturers to add the label within three years, while smaller businesses would have an additional year.
Dr. Peter Lurie, the president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told NPR that many countries use nutrition labels only as a warning against food high in salt, sugar or fat.
The outlet reports that packaged food sold in Chile, for example, has a stop sign symbol on the front if the item is high in the identified nutrients. Since enacted in 2016, research found that consumers in the country purchased “significantly fewer calories, sugar, saturated fat and sodium than would have been expected had the law and its regulations not gone into effect,” per UNC-Chapel Hill’s Global Food Research Program.
Oh my Goya — the stop sign symbol is genius! “HALT! How much clearer can we be that eating this would be a consequentially bad move for the continuing functionality of your body?!” But actually, this addresses one of my first thoughts when I saw the FDA’s proposed label. It’s just like the nutritional info on the back, only limited to the three ingredients and therefore uncluttered, and would be on the front of packaging. But still, black and white text. I worry that visually, that won’t be enough to grab people’s attention these days. It might be more effective to implement the language of the people: emojis! Say 
Of course the next question is: will this even go anywhere? I cannot imagine food companies welcoming this infringement on their marketing, so big money would be lobbied to tank the proposal. And if there’s one thing I think Americans will fight for, it’s the god-given right to eat crappy foods.
PS — We have a deputy director of the FDA named Jim Jones?! I know it’s a different one, but let’s still keep him away from the Kool-Aid.
photos credit: Jack Sparrow, Kampus Productions on Pexels