Short Communication | Open Access

Significance of Nutrition Facts Label of Food Products with Critical Updates by FDA on Nutrition Facts Label

    Rania Ibrahim Mohammad Almoselhy

    Department of Oils and Fats Research, Food Technology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt

    Afreen Usmani

    Umapati Mahadev College of Pharmacy, Amroha, Uttar Pradesh 244221, India

    Peymaneh Ghasemi Afshar

    Department of Food Science and Technology, Hidaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hidaj, Iran

    Morteza Adeli Milani

    Department of Food Science and Technology, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran


Received
16 Aug, 2023
Accepted
30 Sep, 2023
Published
23 Oct, 2023

Background and Objective: Nutrition Facts Label is a mandatory act adopted by FDA to be implemented by all food manufacturers to ensure perfect labeling of all food products with nutritional ingredients provided on the front of pack (FOP) to support healthy eating behaviors. Significance of Nutrition Facts Label with its update by FDA were highlighted here to recommend the implementation of the prompt updating of the Nutrition Facts Label on all food products. Materials and Methods: A survey was carried out in the local markets in three different countries, Egypt, India and Iran in the last 3 years (2020-2022) to check the Nutrition Facts Label on the front of pack (FOP) of different categories of food products to check the consistency and variation in their printing on FOP. The well-structured publications and official documents of FDA were studied thoroughly to extract the valuable updated data to be presented in an informative and concise way. Results: From the recent official document of FDA issued in 2022 regarding the changes on the new nutrition and supplement facts labels, many changes listed beginning with the structure of the Nutrition Facts Label with many changes in daily value of nutrients by increase or decrease with addition of two new nutrients (added sugars and choline) which were not present in FDA, 2018. Conclusion: The current paper successfully presents very important updates on Nutrition Facts Label by FDA to be implemented by all food manufacturers under the control of official regulatory authorities and to be available for all people in order to endorse healthier eating behavior.

Copyright © 2023 Almoselhy et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 

INTRODUCTION

The Nutrition Facts Label by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been designed to be implemented by all food manufacturers under the supervision and control of official regulatory authorities to ensure the perfect labeling of all food products with nutritional ingredients and calories per serving to be provided on the front of the pack (FOP) in order to support healthy eating behaviors. Nutrition facts are considered a mandatory act for labeling food products with essential nutrients as fat, carbohydrate, dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals and energy expressed as calories per serving for supporting healthier diets approaches1.

Nutritional labels still have a limited impact on dietary decisions. A required but insufficient requirement for behavior change is information provision alone. People must do two things: convert information into knowledge and change behavior using that knowledge. The results offer scant evidence for the value of referencing nutrition labels in teaching materials or other sources. The research is encouraging for complementing nutrition labels with interactive digital interventions, such as feedback from shopping carts or monetary incentives. The results as a whole show that more intrusive interventions are needed to motivate people to act on nutrition labels2.

The demand for better food processing and innovative value-added products that adhere to the highest quality standards has increased due to changing consumer demands. It’s possible that dietary changes could result in a demand for fewer salt goods, thus the industry must pay close attention to nutritional claims and proper labeling3.

Front-of-pack nutrition labels (FOPLs) are emphasized in global policy conversations, but arguments about the best format run on. The summary and informative label formats are the two main categories. It is recommended that FOPLs in developing nations with mixed to low levels of education be easily recognizable, intelligible and able to influence purchasing decisions4.

The majority of added sugar consumed in the United States comes from sugar-sweetened beverages and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently changed the nutrition facts label to reflect this information. The Nutrition Facts Label (NFL) revisions are happening at the same time that some towns have implemented legislation that levies an excise tax on beverages with added sugar. The revised NFL has the potential to modify the demand curve by reducing friction and mental gaps associated with the conveyance of nutrition information, whilst taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages may be successful at changing the quantity required5.

The purpose of the current study was to present the critical updates on the structure and information of the Nutrition Facts Label and comparing the original and updated versions. The original version of Nutrition Facts label had been issued by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration (FDA): September 1994, revised April 2008, revised October 2009, revised January 2013 with the current version issued September 20186 and the new updated label of nutrition facts label had been issued by FDA: March 2020 with the current version issued February 20227.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study area: A survey was carried out in local markets of three differrent countries, Egypt, India and Iran in the last three years (2020-2022) to check the Nutrition Facts Label on the front of pack (FOP) of different categories of food products to gather useful information about the consistency and variation in the style of printing Nutrition Facts Label on food products including grains such as rice, wheat, oats, corn, barley and fast foods including snacks food e.g., potato chips, popcorn, cookies, biscuits, chocolate, candy, ice cream, crackers, cake, milk, yogurt, nuts and seeds, tea and herbs, juices, along with different dietary supplements. Well-structured publications and official documents of FDA6,7 were studied thoroughly to extract valuable updated data to be presented in an informative and concise way.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

It is noteworthy to mention the wide range of different categories of food products examined in the markets where the great variation in listing the Nutritiona Facts Label on the front of pack (FOP) was observed. Food products needs to be updated with the correct label according to the last update of Nutrition Facts Label by FDA. Figure 1(a-b) and Table 1 summarize the results of this study as following.

Table 1: Daily value changes for nutrients
Nutrient Original daily value Updated daily value
Daily value increases
Calcium 1000 mg 1300 mg
Dietary fiber 25 g 28 g
Fat 65 g 78 g
Magnesium 400 mg 420 mg
Manganese 2 mg 2.3 mg
Phosphorous 1000 mg 1250 mg
Potassium 3500 mg 4700 mg
Vitamin C 60 mg 90 mg
Vitamin D 400 IU 20 mcg (800 IU)
Vitamin K 80 mcg 120 mcg
Daily value decreases
Biotin 300 mcg 30 mcg
Chloride 3400 mg 2300 mg
Chromium 120 mcg 35 mcg
Copper 2 mg 0.9 mg
Molybdenum 75 mcg 45 mcg
Niacin 20 mg 16 mg
Pantothenic acid 10 mg 5 mg
Riboflavin 1.7 mg 1.3 mg
Selenium 70 mcg 55 mcg
Sodium 2400 mg 2300 mg
Thiamin 1.5 mg 1.2 mg
Total carbohydrate 300 g 275 g
Vitamin A 5000 IU 900 mcg (3000 IU)
Vitamin B6 2 mg 1.7 mg
Vitamin B12 6 mcg 2.4 mcg
Vitamin E 30 IU 15 mg (22.4 IU)
Zinc 15 mg 11 mg
Daily values not changed
Cholesterol 300 mg 300 mg
Iodine 150 mcg 150 mcg
Iron 18 mg 18 mg
Protein 50 g 50 g
Saturated fat 20 g 20 g
New daily values
Added sugars -- 50 g
Choline -- 550 mg
Retrieved from “FDA (2022) daily value on the new nutrition and supplement facts labels”7

Figure 1 illustrates the original label in (a) Nutrition Facts label issued by Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition: September 1994, revised April 2008, revised October 2009, revised January 2013 with the current issue September 20186 and the new label in (b) Nutrition Facts Label by FDA 20227, it is noticed some changes in the structure of the New Label by removing “Calories from Fats” and removing the lower part including the daily values based on 2,000 and 2,500 calories and listing “2,000 calories a day is used for nutrition advice. Also, 2 new rows were added for: Total sugars and added sugars with some modifications on the overall structure. Nutrients present with daily value 5% or less per serving are considered low, whereas, nutrients present with 20% or more are considered high.

From Table 1, it is noticed the different changes in daily value of nutrients, where 10 of them increased (calcium, dietary fiber, fat, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, vitamin C, D and K), 17 decreased (biotin, chloride, chromium, copper, molybdenum, niacin, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, selenium, sodium, thiamin, total carbohydrate, vitamin A, B6, B12 and E, zinc), 5 not changed (cholesterol, iodine, iron, protein, saturated fat) and 2 new nutrients (added sugars, choline) appeared. Also, new units for measuring the concentrations of vitamin A, D and E were introduced to measure them in micrograms “mcg” instead of international unit “IU” which had been used for years in the original daily value.

Fig. 1(a-b): Nutrition facts label of chicken pot pie frozen dinner (a) original label
and (b) new label
(Retrieved from “FDA, 2022 daily value on the new nutrition and supplement
facts labels”7)

The current paper has been written as a short communication to highlight the current status of food labeling with the recent updates on the Nutrition Facts Label by FDA to be implemented by all manufactures and producers concerned with food products with prompt application on the front of pack (FOP) as recommended by official organizations without any limitations.

CONCLUSION

The current paper achieved its purpose successfully by presenting the updates of the nutrition facts label according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a clear, informative and concise way to be easy to understand by anyone and to be applied effectively to all food products with a sufficient comparison with the former original label in order to endorse the healthy eating behavior.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

The aim of the current paper was to present the recent updates on Nutrition Facts Label by FDA in an informative and concise way to highlight the changes in structure of Nutrition Facts Label with the changes in the daily value of nutrients, where some of them increased and others decreased. Whereas, a third group remained unchanged with appearance of two new ingredients mentioned in the updated Nutrition Facts label by FDA 2022.

REFERENCES

  1. Almoselhy, R.I.M., 2023. Formulation and evaluation of novel nutraceuticals rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, natural flavors, and steviol glycosides for improving quality of life. SSRN J., 6.
  2. Schruff-Lim, E.M., E.J. van Loo, E. van Kleef and H.C.M. van Trijp, 2023. Turning FOP nutrition labels into action: A systematic review of label+interventions. Food Policy, 120.
  3. Giró-Candanedo, M., I. Muñoz, P. Gou and E. Fulladosa, 2023. Precise nutritional labelling of sliced packaged dry-cured ham using multi-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Meat Sci., 204.
  4. Ghosh, R.K., R. Sanghvi and A. Sahay, 2023. Consumer preference for nutrition front-of-pack-label formats in India: Evidence from a large-scale experimental survey. Food Qual. Preference, 111.
  5. Neuhofer, Z., B.R. McFadden, A. Rihn, X. Wei, H. Khachatryan and L. House, 2020. Can the updated nutrition facts label decrease sugar-sweetened beverage consumption? Econ. Hum. Biol., 37.
  6. FDA, 2018. Guidance for Industry: Food Labeling Guide.
  7. FDA, 2023. Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels.

How to Cite this paper?


APA-7 Style
Almoselhy, R.I., Usmani, A., Afshar, P.G., Milani, M.A. (2023). Significance of Nutrition Facts Label of Food Products with Critical Updates by FDA on Nutrition Facts Label. Trends in Medical Research, 18(1), 136-140. https://doi.org/10.3923/tmr.2023.136.140

ACS Style
Almoselhy, R.I.; Usmani, A.; Afshar, P.G.; Milani, M.A. Significance of Nutrition Facts Label of Food Products with Critical Updates by FDA on Nutrition Facts Label. Trends Med. Res 2023, 18, 136-140. https://doi.org/10.3923/tmr.2023.136.140

AMA Style
Almoselhy RI, Usmani A, Afshar PG, Milani MA. Significance of Nutrition Facts Label of Food Products with Critical Updates by FDA on Nutrition Facts Label. Trends in Medical Research. 2023; 18(1): 136-140. https://doi.org/10.3923/tmr.2023.136.140

Chicago/Turabian Style
Almoselhy, Rania, Ibrahim Mohammad, Afreen Usmani, Peymaneh Ghasemi Afshar, and Morteza Adeli Milani. 2023. "Significance of Nutrition Facts Label of Food Products with Critical Updates by FDA on Nutrition Facts Label" Trends in Medical Research 18, no. 1: 136-140. https://doi.org/10.3923/tmr.2023.136.140