Food labels
Food labels are essential informational tools attached to nearly all edible products sold in the United States, designed to provide consumers with critical details about the food they purchase. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the majority of food labeling regulations, ensuring that labels include clear ingredient lists and nutritional breakdowns. These labels must highlight serving sizes, calorie content, and specific allergen information, particularly regarding the most common allergens like milk, eggs, and peanuts, as mandated by laws like the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act.
Understanding the nutritional information on food labels is vital for consumers to manage their diets effectively. Labels typically offer calorie counts and percentages of daily values for various nutrients based on a standard 2,000-calorie diet, which helps individuals gauge their intake of essential vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients. This information includes a detailed breakdown of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, along with recommendations for moderating unhealthy substances such as saturated fats and sugars. By learning to read and interpret food labels, consumers can make more informed choices about their dietary habits and overall health.
Food labels
Food labels are attached to all edible products sold in the United States. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which bears primary responsibility for food labeling in the United States, defines a food label as a sticker or seal of nutritional information that is attached to a food container. The law requires all food labels to provide a clear ingredient list as well as a nutritional breakdown of the food within the package. This law ensures that all food products sold in the United States are safe and wholesome for consumption. It also provides protection to consumers, who may need to know exactly what is in the food they are eating.
Overview
Two federal departments are responsible for regulating the information that appears on food labels in the United States. The FDA has the overall responsibility for most food labels. However, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a division of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is responsible for regulating the labeling of meat, poultry products, and eggs.
All food labels are required to include an ingredient list, information about serving size and calorie content, a nutritional breakdown by nutrient type, and a statement about the presence of certain allergens, or substances that cause allergic reactions.
Ingredient List
An ingredient list is a listing of each ingredient in the food product, in order of its prevalence in the food. The most heavily used ingredient is listed first, followed by the second most heavily used ingredient, and so on. The ingredient list must also clearly identify ingredients related to the nine most common allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. Congress passed the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) to ensure that food labels clearly indicate when these allergens are present.
Nutritional Information: Serving Size Information
A standard food label includes two line items related to serving size: Serving Size and Servings Per Container. Serving Size tells consumers the size of each serving. For example, a typical Serving Size might be listed as 1 cup (228g). Serving Size is given in both US standard and metric units.
Servings per Container indicates the number of servings in the package. Consumers should pay close attention to this number, as many packaged items include more than one serving—an important piece of information about the contents.
Calories
The nutritional information on a food label gives both a calorie number and a percentage of daily value. Calories are a measure of the energy in nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Calories provide the body with fuel in the form of energy. Consumers are encouraged to eat the appropriate number of calories per day to ensure efficient body functioning while avoiding the storage of excess calories as body fat.
Percentage of Daily Value (% DV) is the percentage of a particular nutrient, vitamin, or mineral in a single serving of the food. For standardization purposes, the % DV is based on a 2,000-calorie diet, which may or may not be appropriate for any individual. However, even if a diet should be higher or lower in calories, the % DV can help consumers understand how the food contributes to the various nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that are recommended as part of the daily diet.
The first two line items on a food label are Calories and Calories from Fat. Calories is the number of calories per single serving size of the food; Calories from Fat refers to the total calories from fat per serving size. “Per serving size” is important, as the item may include more than one serving. This can greatly impact the number of calories consumed. For example, if the food label shows that a package contains three servings, a consumer should multiply Calories (the total calories) by three to determine how many calories would be consumed in total if the entire food item is eaten. Similarly, consumers would multiply Calories from Fat by three, also, to see how much fat the food contains.
Nutrient Breakdown
The food label also provides a breakdown of the individual nutrients in the food as both a calorie count and the percentage of daily value (% DV). These numbers are based on a single serving size.
The label shows the breakdown of the following nutrients:
The fat content of the food is further broken down into amounts of saturated fat and trans fat. That’s because these types of fat are considered unhealthy and should be consumed only in moderation. This part of the label also shows the amounts of both cholesterol and sodium in a serving of the food. These nutrients can be problematic to health if they are consumed in large quantities, so consumers are encouraged to choose food items that are low in both.
The carbohydrate content of the food is broken down to show how much, if any, dietary fiber and sugar—two types of carbohydrates—are in the food. Dietary fiber helps to make a person feel more full, so consumers are encouraged to eat foods that are high in dietary fiber. Sugar can cause weight gain if eaten in excess, so consumers are encouraged to choose food items with lower amounts of sugar.
The protein content of the food is listed by itself, followed by an additional number of nutrients, such as potassium, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron. These are all nutrients that consumers should eat in the appropriate recommended daily quantities.
Bibliography
“Food Allergies: What You Need to Know.” US Food and Drug Administration, 12 Apr. 2023, www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/food-allergies-what-you-need-know. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.
“How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label.” US Food and Drug Administration, 27 Sept. 2023, www.fda.gov/food/nutrition-facts-label/how-understand-and-use-nutrition-facts-label. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.
FSIS. “A Guide to Federal Food Labeling Requirements for Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products.” US Department of Agriculture. Published 2007. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://www.fsis.usda.gov/shared/PDF/Labeling‗Requirements‗Guide.pdf>
HHS. “Eating Better and Feeling Healthier Using the Nutrition Facts Label.” US Department of Health and Human Services/US Food and Drug Administration. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines>
USDA. “Calories.” Choose MyPlate. US Department of Agriculture. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://www.choosemyplate.gov/weight-management-calories/calories.html>