Regulating Food Labels

Food became upheld to a standard after passing the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The manufacturers of various foods were required to list the ingredients contained in their products. Only certain ingredients that were deemed nutritious and safe became allowed to be included in food production. This

Food matters in a sense that people should inform themselves of what is in their foods. People should not always entrust in the rules and regulations given to farms, factories, and supermarkets or trust that what they’ve purchased is healthy or safe. “If you bother to read the health claims closely (as food marketers make sure consumers seldom do), you will find that there is often less to them that meets the eye” (Pollan 14). Considering the idea that maybe people are to focus on the healthy promising labels; consequently, they’re not reading the fine print. Reading and truly understanding food labels is how food matters. People should research chemicals, ingredients, and products used in the foods they

If you were to go to a restaurant, you would want to know what the nutritional values of the food were, would you not? The labels you see on bags of potato chips or a drink are called nutritional labels (also known as food labels), which show you how much calories, proteins, fats, or a lot more that the item has. In fact, the government made it illegal to make products to sell at stores without the nutritional label. Did you know that restaurants are not required by law to have a label on any of their products? The government needs to make a law to make restaurants put the nutritional values on their foods.

Consumers could spend as much as $10 more per product if proposed label changes go through. The FDA is proposing new food labels by changing its look, and what information is places on the label. Improving food labels would not improve the public’s health because it is (1)costly, (2)will take lots of time and, (3)it is unnecessary. I believe that the new labels won’t help public health because people are not educated enough to know how to read them. More money should be spent on educating people on the labels rather than changing them. If the new labels are made the people who knew how to read them before will now have to learn how to read the new labels. With the new labels means more money spent on things that is unneeded.

Its seems obvious that the organization with food in its name, the Food and Drug Administration, should be in charge of our country's food safety and food labels. This agency has the experience and knowledge to devise a labeling standard that incorporates all pertinent information. I have confidence in the FDA.

The Labeling and Education Act of 1990 was the last major government action involving nutrition labeling, which did not take effect until 1994. This action required that serving size and nutrition labeling to be clearly displayed on packaged foods that were being sold at the grocery stores. Restaurant and other ready-to-eat food were exempted from this new law. But in 2014, twenty years after this action went into effect; the FDA released a proposed rule to renew the nutrition-facts label, which required packaged foods to include the amount of sugar, and to increase the size of the calorie label font, making it easier for consumers to read the labels.

Standards of identity or quality do not exist for fresh or dried fruits and vegetables, or butter, but avocados, cantaloupes, citrus fruits, and melons do have such standards. An intriguing court case is Jam vs. United States, in which 62 cases discuss imitation fruit jams and if they indeed are misbranded. As they were labelled ‘imitation’ and not attempted to be passed as real fruit jams, it was found to be in compliance with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (340 U.S. 599 (1951)). Labelling has been in the news recently, and even when the law was written eighty years prior, apparently it was still a point of contention. Labels must state artificial flavorings, chemicals, preservatives, serving size, number of servings or units per container, calories, calories from fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, sugars, fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, and if it is a raw agricultural commodity, pesticides or chemicals applied after harvest. Pesticide residue is determined by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, and this particular requirement refers to the Toxic Substances Control Act, which in section four declares that states may petition to establish a limit on acceptable residual levels. Infant formula has strict nutritional specifications under this section, compiled in Index

The Federal government has remained silent on the subject of food labeling since passing the Labeling and Education Act of 1990, which introduced the now-familiar nutrition label and serving size information found on the majority of packaged foods. That legislation, however, purposefully excluded businesses selling ready-to-eat food.

Historically restaurants were exempt from nutrition labeling due to 1990s policy during the Bush Administration6. The policy of menu labeling emerged with growing concern over the obesity crisis and malnutrition in America. Currently more than one third of US adults are obese3. Obesity related conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers are the leading causes of preventable deaths in America3. President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010 with the provision of section 42059. Section 4205 was aimed at providing increased information about nutrition and calorie content to the public with the goal of helping consumers make informed and healthful dietary choices9. This section was originally due to be enacted in April 20139.

First off, in order to revise the food label, we need to understand how it is supposed to work. The food label was develop, and is currently regulated by the Food and Drug Administration since 1993 (Rosso Grossman, “Food Labels”). The food label is currently has four requirements. The first is the principal display panel. This is in the front of the package and the label is what the food is commonly

In the food world there is no such thing as transparency. The food industry is relying on

When producing a substance that may be hazardous the amount of rules and regulations that must be followed can be overwhelming. Fortunately for parents and the safety of others, the Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act was put into effect in 1960. This was due to the numerous of deaths associated with coming in contact with, and ingestion of a hazardous substance. This act was essential to the protection of our nation’s consumers. Many reasons or regulations are given in regards to safety that consumer needs to know. Just a of these rules and regulations included in the Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act are: how to determine whether or not a product requires labeling, guidelines regarding

Fats, calories, and unhealthy food, these are all things that are in are foods and without labeling to tell us how much in in there we will never know which foods are healthy and unhealthy. So I have come to state facts and details on why food labelling should be a law and should be enforced.

The FDA has been protecting the American food supply for over a hundred years. They use scientific testing to examine new food, beverage, and drug products before they enter the market in order to ensure that what we purchase at the grocery store passes health and safety regulations. Currently, they are in charge of setting guidelines for the classification, certification, and labeling of organic food products. H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, aims to give them the same authority over foods considered "natural" and "GMO-free."

1) “Preventive Control”, this is the first time the FDA have a legislative mandate to require comprehensive, science-based preventive controls across the food supply. This mandate includes: mandatory preventive controls for food facilities, mandatory produce safety standards, and authority to prevent intentional contamination. Mandatory preventive controls for food facilities means food facilities are required to implement a written preventive