The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the new nutrition facts label for packaged foods sold in the United States “will help people make informed decisions about the foods they eat and feed their families.” Key updates to the new Nutrition Facts label, which were announced today, include:
- An updated design to highlight calories and servings.
- Requirements for serving sizes that more closely reflect the amounts of food that people currently eat.
- Declaration of grams and a percent daily value (%DV) for "added sugars."
- "Dual column" labels to indicate both "per serving" and "per package" calorie and nutrition information for certain multi-serving food products that could be consumed in one sitting or multiple sittings.
- Updated daily values for nutrients like sodium, dietary fiber and vitamin D, consistent with Institute of Medicine recommendations and the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
- Declaration of Vitamin D and potassium that will include the actual gram amount, in addition to the %DV.
- "Calories from Fat" will be removed because research shows the type of fat is more important than the amount. "Total Fat," "Saturated Fat," and "Trans Fat" will continue to be required.
- An abbreviated footnote to better explain the %DV.
Most food manufacturers will be required to use the new label by July 26, 2018. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales will have an additional year to comply with the new rules. The FDA plans to conduct outreach and education efforts on the new requirements.
