FDA issues final guidance for nutrition labeling regulations

The FDA has issued final guidance to help manufacturers of packaged foods comply with the updated Nutrition Facts labeling regulations, which addresses serving sizes of foods, including single-serving foods and other foods that can reasonably be consumed at one eating occasion and require dual-column labeling. It finalizes a draft guidance issued in November 2018.

Changes from the draft guidance include:

Providing additional background information in response to a question regarding reference amounts customarily consumed (RACCs) for non-juice beverages for infants and young children (question B.9);

Modifying for clarity a question and response concerning whether the Nutrition Facts label for products sold in small packages (e.g., certain sugar-free chewing gums) must list all nutrients that are contained in insignificant amounts (question D.2);

And modifying the response to a question regarding the placement of the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels to clarify that the Nutrition Facts or Supplement Facts label should not be placed on the bottom of packages (such as the bottom of boxes, cans and bottles), unless they are visible during normal retail display and consumer handling (question D.4).

Sharon Spielman is former senior editor of Food Engineering magazine. She has more than 25 years of experience as a writer and editor for a range of trade publications, including those that cover food and beverage processing, restaurants and institutions, chefs, process heating and cooling, finishing, and package converting.