FDA will usher in new nutrition labels soon

A new approach to displaying nutrition information on food packaging is coming, courtesy of the FDA and First Lady Michelle Obama, and manufacturers should be wary of the changes this might cause to their typical procedures.

So, what exactly will these changes entail? There doesn’t seem to be that much concrete information currently available. As Salon notes, however, the summaries of the rule that have been posted might suggest that the new labels will focus on curbing heart disease by suggesting dietary changes.

One crucial factor that the FDA notes is that consumers ignore some of the information already on nutrition labels because they aren’t displayed prominently enough to be read and understood.

Another piece of information that can be easily lost on a large food item might be the serving size amount, especially for food products that aren’t meant for one person to eat alone. In a story on the subject done for NPR, nutrition specialist Greg Silver explained to Melissa Block how bad labeling can lead to bad and unwary consumption in this way.

“Repeatedly, we find that people are assuming containers are individual portion and not realizing, oh, this is actually for two,” he said. “And therefore, they’re getting double the amount of sodium. They’re getting double the amount of calories and not thinking through that.”

That’s more than a little alarming. If your target consumers aren’t paying attention to the right details, you can use a color label printer to highlight the most critical information.