A new label was announced Feb. 27, by First Lady Michelle Obama when she attended an event marking the forth anniversary of her Let’s Move! Campaign to combat childhood obesity.
This was the first time in more than two decades, that the White House and the food and drug administration unveiled major changes to the iconic and outdated nutrition facts label found on most food packages.
The recent food label change really did come with major changes all revolving around Calories, Serving Sizes, Sugars, Total Fat, Vitamins, and last but not least, Daily Values.
The calories will all appear in larger fonts and will be much bolder than prior years.
Serving Sizes will be updated by showing serving size requirements that prove the amounts people actually eat.
The FDA has stated that, “By law, the label information in serving sizes must be based on what people actually eat, not on what they ‘should’ be eating.”
This will cause the number listed under calories to go up too. Visually, servings per container also appear larger and bolder.
Sugar will now be listed under carbohydrates, but there will be a new subcategory under sugar called “added sugar”.
Many kinds of fat will now be listed on the Total Fat panel such as total, saturated, trans, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats.
Vitamins will come with a slight change in which Vitamins A and C will no longer be required listed and where Vitamin D and potassium will now be required and will be added.
They’re being added because data shows people aren’t getting enough of these two vitamins.
Daily Values will receive changes for sodium, dietary fiber, and vitamin D where they will all be increased.
The FDA predicts that such changes will cost around $2 billion but also lifts a $20-30 billion public health benefit.
In all, this major turn around can have a strong impact and should really help improve our eating habits as a nation collectively, and maybe with the Food Label rejuvenation, more and more people will actually start to use the food label in a positive way.
