The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires most foods to carry nutrition labels. Exceptions include:
· Foods served for immediate consumption (in hospitals and on airplanes, for example)
· Those sold by food-service vendors (e.g. mall cookie counters, sidewalk stands, and vending machines)
· Ready-to-eat food that is prepared on-site but not eaten there (deli, bakery, and candy-store items, for instance)
· Bulk food that is not for sale to consumers in that form
· Medical foods designed for patients with certain diseases
· Plain coffee and tea, some spices, and other foods that contain no significant amounts of any nutrients.
Also exempt are foods produced by small businesses. So are restaurant foods¾except those for which health claims are made.
Nutrition Facts that Must Be Reported
When a label does include nutrition information, it must cover a minimal set of nutrients, arranged in a standard order. Two exceptions: 1) foods that are virtually calorie-free and contain insignificant amounts of at least seven of the mandatory nutrients listed below, and 2) foods that come in packages too small to accommodate a complete nutrition label (chewing gum, for example). Here are the mandatory nutrients and their units of measure, listed in standard order:
1. A typical serving size, meaning "the amount customarily eaten at one time."
2. Calories per serving.
3. Calories per serving that come from fat.
4. The amount of 12 other nutrients in a serving:
· Total fat, measured in both grams and "% DV," meaning what percentage of Daily Value (DV) the amount represents
· Saturated fat, in grams and % DV
· Cholesterol, in milligrams and % DV
· Sodium, in milligrams and % DV
· Total carbohydrate, in grams and % DV
· Dietary fiber, in grams and % DV
· Sugars, in grams only
· Protein, in grams only
· Vitamin A, in % DV only
· Vitamin C, in % DV only
· Calcium, in % DV only
· Iron, in % DV only.
What "Low-Fat," "Light," and Other Terms Mean
The FDA requires certain words on labels to meet strict definitions. Here's a brief lexicon:
"Free." Containing no amount of, or only trivial or "physiologically inconsequential" amounts of either fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, sugars, or calories¾whichever is specified. Allowed synonyms include "without," "no," and "zero."
"Low." Even if eaten frequently, the food won't exceed dietary guidelines for certain nutrients. Specifically:
· "Low fat": 3 grams or less per serving
· "Low saturated fat": 1 gram or less per serving
· "Low sodium": 140 milligrams or less per serving
· "Very low sodium": 35 milligrams or less per serving
· "Low cholesterol": 20 milligrams or less and 2 grams or less of saturated fat per serving
· "Low calorie": 40 calories or less per serving.
"Lean." Applies only to meat, poultry, seafood, and game meats, as follows:
· "Lean": less than 10 grams or fat, 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat, and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per serving and per 100 grams (about 3½ ounces)
· "Extra lean": less than 5 grams or fat, less than 2 grams of saturated fat, and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per serving and per 100 grams.
"High." One serving contains 20 percent or more of the Daily Value of the nutrient.
"Good source." One serving contains 10 to 19 percent of the Daily Value of the nutrient.
"Reduced." Contains at least 25 percent less of the nutrient than the regular, or reference, product. (Can be applied only to nutritionally altered foods; can't be applied if the reference food is already "low" in the nutrient.)
"Less." Same as "reduced," except that it can be applied whether the food is nutritionally altered or not. Acceptable synonym: "fewer."
"Light." Can mean two things:
· Contains one-third fewer calories or one-half the fat of the reference food. (Can be applied only to nutritionally altered foods. If the reference food derives 50 percent or more of its calories from fat, the "light" food's fat content must be at least 50 percent lower, regardless of the calorie reduction.)
· Sodium content has been reduced by 50 percent. (Can be applied only to a low-calorie, low-fat food. But "light in sodium" can be applied to any food whose sodium content has been reduced by at least 50 percent.)
(The term "light" can still be used to describe such properties as texture and color, as long as the label explains the intent¾for example, "light brown sugar" and "light and fluffy."
"More." One serving contains at least 10 percent more of the nutrient than a serving of the reference food does. (Can be applied to any food.)
"Fortified," "Enriched," "Added." Same definition as "more," except that these terms can be applied only to nutritionally altered foods.
"Healthy." Is low in fat and saturated fat and contains limited amounts of cholesterol and less than 480 milligrams of sodium per serving. (By early 1998, the limit for sodium was to have dropped to 360 milligrams for individual foods and 480 milligrams for packaged meals such as frozen entrées or TV dinners.) In addition, if it's a single-item food, it must provide at least 10 percent of the Daily Value of one or more of vitamins A or C, iron, calcium, protein, or dietary fiber. If it's a packaged meal, it must provide 10 percent of the Daily Value of two or three of these vitamins or minerals or of protein or dietary fiber, in addition to meeting the other criteria.
"Fresh." When it implies that a food is raw or unprocessed, this term can be applied only to foods that are raw, have never been frozen or heated, and contain no preservatives. (Irradiation at low levels is allowed.) "Fresh frozen," "frozen fresh," and "freshly frozen" can be used for foods that are quickly frozen while still fresh. (Blanching is allowed.) Other uses of the term "fresh," such as in "fresh milk" or "freshly baked bread," are not affected.
"Percent fat-free." Can be applied only to foods that qualify as low-fat or fat-free (see above), and must accurately reflect the amount of fat in 100 grams of the food. If a food contains 2.5 grams of fat per 50 grams, for example, the claim must be "95 percent fat-free."
(Alternative spellings of all the terms above are acceptable¾"hi" and "lo," for example¾as long as the alternatives are not misleading.)
Implied Claims
These are prohibited when consumers would wrongly infer that a food does or does not contain a meaningful level of a nutrient. For example, a claim that a product is made with an ingredient known to be a source of dietary fiber ("made with oat bran," for example) would not be allowed unless the product contained enough oat bran to qualify as a "good source" of dietary fiber. Similarly, a claim that a product contains "no tropical oils" would be allowed only on foods that are "low" in saturated fat¾because consumers have come to equate tropical oils with saturated fat.
Health Claims
Food labels are allowed to make claims for eight different relationships between a food or nutrient and the risk of a disease or health condition. Each claim must use the word "may" or "might," however, and cannot state a degree of risk reduction. It must also say that other factors play a role in that disease. The allowed claims are as follows:
· Calcium and osteoporosis. One serving must contain 20 percent or more of the Daily Value for calcium; the calcium content must equal or exceed that of phosphorus; and the calcium must be in a form that can be readily absorbed and used by the body.
· Fat and cancer. The food must qualify as "low fat" or, if fish or game meat, "extra lean."
· Saturated fat and cholesterol, and coronary heart disease. The food must qualify as a "low saturated fat," "low cholesterol," and "low fat" item or, if fish or game meat, as an "extra lean" item.
· Fiber-containing grain products, fruits, and vegetables¾and cancer. The food must contain a grain product, fruit, or vegetable; must qualify as "low fat"; and, without forification, must be a "good source" of dietary fiber.
· Fruits, vegetables, and grain products that contain fiber¾and coronary heart disease. The food must be or contain fruits, vegetables, or grain products; must qualify as a "low saturated fat," "low cholesterol," and "low fat" item; and must contain, without fortification, at least 0.6 grams of soluble fiber per serving.
· Sodium and hypertension. The food must qualify as "low sodium." [Editor's note: In late 1996, as more and more studies indicated that salt intake affected blood pressure less than formerly believed, the Salt Institute proposed that such claims no longer be allowed on labels. As of this writing, the FDA was still considering the proposal.]
· Fruits and vegetables, and cancer. The food must be a fruit or vegetable; must qualify as "low fat"; and, without fortification, must qualify as a "good source" of at least one of the following: dietary fiber, vitamin A, or vitamin C.
· Folate and neural-tube birth defects. The FDA has agreed to allow such claims, but the rules have not been finalized.
To get more information on label regulations¼
¼you might start by visiting the FDA's Web site at www.fda.gov.