FDA Talks Extension for Nutrition Labeling Compliance

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to extend the compliance dates for the final rule on nutrition facts and supplement facts, as well as serving sizes, from July 26, 2018, to January 1, 2020. This move affects manufacturers with USD10m or more in annual food sales. Manufacturers with less than USD10m in annual food sales would receive an extra year to comply—until January 1, 2021.

The proposed rule only addresses the compliance dates, and FDA is not proposing any other changes to the final rules.

The agency is proposing to extend the compliance dates in response to the continued concern that companies and trade associations have shared regarding the time needed for implementation of the final rules. These stakeholders expressed concerns about their ability to update all products by the original compliance dates and the importance of obtaining clarification from the FDA on several technical issues relating to the final rules.

On May 20, 2016, the FDA announced the new Nutrition Facts label for packaged foods to reflect new scientific information, including the link between diet and chronic diseases such as obesity and heart disease. The new label will make it easier for consumers to make better informed food choices. 

Among these changes, FDA included increasing the type size for “Calories,” “servings per container,” and the “Serving size” declaration, and bolding the number of calories and the “Serving size” declaration to highlight this information. 

Manufacturers must declare the actual amount, in addition to percent daily value of vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium. They can voluntarily declare the gram amount for other vitamins and minerals.

The footnote is changing to better explain what “% Daily Value” means. It will read: “*The % Daily Value 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.”

“Added sugars,” in grams and as % Daily Value, will be included on the label. While continuing to require “Total Fat,” “Saturated Fat,” and “Trans Fat” on the label, “Calories from Fat” is being removed because research shows the type of fat is more important than the amount.