9 Proposed Changes to Nutrition Labels

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Congress passed the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act more than 16 years ago to require packaged foods carry detailed nutrition facts labels. While the format makes it easier to ascertain calorie counts, serving size and ingredients, the labels still could be improved.

According to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, “[W]e’ve seen the emergence of claims that may not provide the full picture of their products’ true nutritional value. It will be important to reestablish a science-based approach to protect the public.”

Misleading claims range from manufacturer promises a food can “strengthen” your immune system to pictures on food labels misrepresenting the type and quantity of fruits and vegetables in a processed food.

The consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest believes a makeover is necessary to clarify and highlight important information and prevent unnecessary and misleading wording. The CSPI's suggested changes include:

1. Front-of-Package Nutrition Labeling
Key nutrition information should be summarized, using easy-to-comprehend symbols, on the fronts of food packages.

2. Larger Type
Print caloric and serving-size information in larger type at the top of the label, so consumers can more readily understand how much they're eating.

3. Eliminate Capital Letters
The all-caps format makes labels more difficult to read, so CSPI suggests using a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, as well as bullets to separate ingredients, rather than running all this information together.

4. Separate Data
Separate information about minor ingredients and allergens from the main ingredient list and highlight allergy information in red.

5. Whole Grains
Prominently highlighting the percentage of whole grains in a product would help consumers identify healthier ingredients.

6. Percentage by Weight
The amounts of key ingredients should be disclosed as percentages of the total weight of the product.

7. Sugars
List similar ingredients together. For example, sugar, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup and grape juice concentrates are all used to sweeten products and should be listed in parenthesis under "sugars." Also, make it clear which sugars are added to a product, as opposed to those that occur naturally.

8. Red Lettering
CSPI recommends highlighting the word "high" in red when a product has more than 20 percent of the daily recommendations for sugars, fats, sodium or cholesterol.

9. Caffeine
Caffeine content presently isn't listed on labels but would greatly help those whose stomachs respond poorly to caffeine or don't want a jolt from their food.

Check out the New York Times useful graphic of the before-and-after food-label changes.