The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has requested comments on proposed changes to criteria to define specific foods as “healthy”.  The amended levels of nutrients would be consistent with current, scientific knowledge and conform to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  The proposed definition of “healthy” as a label claim would require both a meaningful quantity of nutrients as recommended by the Dietary Guidelines and observe limits on specific dietary components including saturated fat, sodium and added sugar.

Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services stated, “Nutrition is key to improving our Nation’s health.  Adding “healthy” food can lower our risk for chronic disease.”  Dr. Robert M. Califf, Commissioner of the FDA, noted that, “Diet-related chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the U.S. and disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minority groups.” 

In response to the FDA request for comments, the American Egg Board issued a media statement on September 28th, endorsing the proposed definition of eggs as “healthy” based on the criteria for saturated fat and the removal of cholesterol.

The media release is somewhat anticipatory of the final FDA decision relating to nutritional criteria, given that the opponents of intensive egg production and companies producing egg substitutes will object and submit pseudo-scientific responses supporting the proposed changes with respect to eggs. The Egg Nutrition Center of the American Egg Board will be instrumental in refuting false claims and supporting the definition of eggs as healthy. This has implications for school and institutional meals.