You’re used to looking up nutrition information on the back of a product, but a new proposal could change this: those labels might be moving to the front of food packaging.
How did we get here? ICYMI, the U.S. isn’t the healthiest of nations, and this new proposal is seen as a potential tactic to combat chronic disease. If all the nutrition information were on the front of a package, shoppers would hopefully make healthier purchase choices.
While the FDA penned the proposal, it’s now on the White House’s desk for the Office of Management and Budget to review. Under the new rule, labels would have to identify foods high in chronic-disease-causing ingredients.
Soundbite: “The most important thing we can do to reduce diet-related chronic disease is to encourage consumers to consume fewer products with excess sodium, added sugars, and saturated fat.” — Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest
MAHA: The labeling falls right in line with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” push and could find favor with the incoming Trump administration.
At a global level, the World Health Organization (WHO) has drafted guidelines to help consumers make healthier choices, but doesn’t recommend harsher warming labels. Today, 43 WHO member states have some type of “front-of-package” labeling. The WHO recommends national governments include “interpretive” labels with nutritional facts and some explanation about a product’s healthiness.
France, Germany, and Spain are a few countries that already have front-of-packaging labeling in place.
