The Food and Drug Administration will likely propose adding a nutrition facts label to the front of packaged foods for the first time. The change, expected to be announced in the coming months, will be the latest development in the evolution of consumer-driven nutrition labeling. The announcement comes as cardiovascular disease, a diet-related illness, remains the leading cause of death in the United States. A new study published in the journal Neurology shows that ultra-processed foods have a negative impact on brain health.
Many other countries already use this type of labelling on food packaging – in Singapore, for example, beverages are given a nutritional grade, and in Europe, most packaged food packaging has a similar Nutrition Score rating, which ranges from A to F and is meant to inform consumers of the overall nutritional value of the food.
Nutrition labeling is a relatively recent phenomenon in the United States, having existed in its today’s iconic black and white panel format for less than 30 years. The addition of the Nutrition Facts display to the front of the label was the first major change in food labeling at the time.
But this isn’t the first time state and federal governments have tried to steer consumer behavior toward healthier foods. In 2010, Congress passed a law requiring chain restaurants to display nutritional information on their menus, but the outcome of this shift in food choices is uncertain. Some local governments have imposed pricing incentives for less healthy foods, such as soda taxes on sugar-sweetened drinks, but no states currently impose such taxes.
FoodReady combed through National Institutes of Health reports and other historical sources to examine the history of nutrition labeling over the years.
From market-fresh produce to prepackaged convenience foods, Americans’ eating habits are changing dramatically.
In the early 20th century, food rarely had nutritional labels. There was far less processed and packaged food, so labels were not necessary. People typically bought fresh, raw ingredients at the market and cooked them the same day.
The only food regulations at the time were enacted when the Department of Agriculture was established in the mid-1800s. They were primarily limited to rules on food handling and processing in response to numerous outbreaks of food poisoning. Canned foods had been sold in the United States since the late 19th century, but they were primarily a supplement to raw ingredients and did not carry nutritional labeling.
After World War II, advances in electric kitchen appliances such as refrigerators and freezers and the rise of large general merchandise stores meant more women and families had access to frozen foods, prepackaged foods, canned foods, and complete meals.
In the 1960s, as more women entered the workforce, the need for efficient, convenient home meals grew, driving the demand for prepared foods. As more packaged and processed foods entered the market, consumers began to demand more transparency about what they were buying and eating. In 1966, the USDA required companies to list ingredients on all products in interstate commerce, the first time ingredients were required to be listed on packaging.
Misleading claims and growing concerns about nutrition have led consumers to demand transparency.
While ingredients lists tell consumers exactly what’s in the foods on grocery store shelves, companies are putting false and misleading health claims on their packaging.
Many claims that foods are heart-healthy or low-fat are not supported by sufficient research or are simply false. To combat these misleading or harmful claims, the FDA has instituted new rules that require companies that make health claims or add extra nutrients on their packaging to also include nutrition information on their products.
The rise of these claims coincided with an increased interest in diet and nutrition that gained momentum with the hippie health food boom in the ’70s and continued to grow through the ’80s. Consumers increasingly wanted more nutritional information.
The renewed interest in the food-health connection was driven in part by the publication of the first Dietary Guidelines for Americans in 1980, which included advice such as “eat a variety of foods” and “maintain an ideal weight.” A decade later, more detailed reports and guidelines on nutrition by the Surgeon General and the National Research Council increased public awareness and interest in food and diet. Reports showed that certain components of foods, such as trans fats and saturated fats, were linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.
Labels will be more nuanced, with a focus on data and dietary awareness
In 1990, Congress gave the FDA the authority under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act to require consistent food labeling on packaged foods. The new law also mandated that these labels must be representative of everyday meals and that serving sizes must reflect common portion sizes. Labels must also include the number of calories, as well as the amounts of fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, protein, and certain vitamins and minerals.
Over the next few years, the FDA made new rules and decisions in light of new data and research on various nutritional issues. Total trans fat was added to a separate line on the label after it was found to affect low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, often referred to as “bad” cholesterol. Rather than listing added sugars on a separate line, the FDA decided to list total sugars, since it is impossible to distinguish between sugars that occur naturally in fruit and sugars that are added later.
Today, nutrition labels contain many of these same features, with minor changes such as serving sizes in bold and added sugars on a separate line. As both a consumer education tool and a guideline for the food industry, nutrition labels have proven to be somewhat effective: A 2019 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that labels instruct consumers to reduce their intake of certain ingredients and contents, such as trans fats and high sodium.
How much of an impact will the new FDA-proposed front-of-package labels have on American food consumer habits? That remains to be seen.
Story editing by Alizah Salario. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn.
This story originally appeared on FoodReady and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
