There are many products these days which have labels that claim a lot while the actual product bottled inside doesn’t have anything to do with the claims let alone any scientific substantiation to prove that the food stands by the label (the same can not be said of our cup holder). Although, many such bottled labels were found in the FDA cafeteria and there are many food frauds, FDA is picking its battles and has its priorities which include enhancing the overall quality of the food products and the authenticity of the label claims. The FDA is fighting against labels’ claims being used for marketing.
A major campaign has been launched by the FDA to enhance the authenticity of nutrition labeling where a customer can simply look at the label and know what he or she is going to get from the product. This will also ensure that healthy diets are prepared thus reducing the risk posed by chronic disease and obesity. The top priority of the FDA is to ensure that consumers can readily find the entire nutritional profile of the food up to date on the labels of the food products.
The FDA is working towards updating Nutrition Fact Panels which is present on food packages. They are also working on ways to provide nutrition related information and guides on the front of the food packages. There are many efforts which are working towards reducing child obesity and many other health issues that start with obesity in kids. The FDA is also working on regulations and rules over how companies can provide nutrition related information such as calories, a healthy diet and nutrition information over food packages and restaurant menus. The restaurant menu initiative has been mandated by health reform legislation. The FDA is working along with others to implement these initiatives as it is a major achievement is consumers can get all this information on forums through not marketing driven sources which are more reliable.
The FDA is also addressing issues of false labels found in its cafeteria. It is going after misleading labels and about 20 letters of enforcement were sent to various food companies that were not branding the products appropriately. Some of these were genuine examples of labeling violations and the claims did not meet the legal requirements thus misleading consumers. More such enforcement letters will be issued by the FDA towards other companies too. Although it would be costly for FDA to prove that some of the claims are false, it would need tapping into many experts which on any drink holder related topics we hoped to be consulted..
