Currently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering new regulations for front-of-packaging labeling with the objective of reducing obesity and diet related health conditions.  The Food Industry Association previously developed the Facts Up Front program allowing consumers to review caloric, fat, sodium, and sugar content of packaged foods.

According to Krystal Register, Senior Director of Health and Wellbeing at FMI, “Many of the FDA proposed front-of-packaging schemes go beyond factorial disclosure with subjective characterization.”  She added, “Reducing food’s entire dietary contribution to whether it is low, medium or high in one, two three nutrients is overly simplistic.”

Researchers have determined that more than half of consumers review labels when shopping in stores and respond to label descriptors including the ambiguous term “healthy”.

The FMI considers that in the interest of comprehensive consumer information, nutrients should be characterized by numerical level with an emphasis on caloric content, saturated fat and sodium content.