WASHINGTON – Added sugars, vitamin D and potassium are in the Food and Drug Administration’s new Nutrition Facts Panel and calories from fat are out, according to final rules published by the agency May 20.
The new rules will require the declaration of a gram amount of “added sugars” in a serving of a product, establish a Daily Reference Value and require a percent daily value declaration for added sugars. The new rules also will change “sugars” to “total sugars” and require the statement “includes ‘X’ g added sugars” be indented and declared directly below total sugars on the label.
The list of vitamins and minerals required also has been updated to require the declaration of vitamin D and potassium and permits, rather than requires, the declaration of vitamins A and C.
Additional changes include:
- Updating certain reference values used in the declaration of percent D.V.s of nutrients on the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels;
- Revising the format of the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels to increase the prominence of the term “Calories;”
- Removing the requirement for the footnote table listing the reference values for certain nutrients for 2,000- and 2,500-calorie diets.
The final rule will be effective July 26. Food and beverage manufacturers with sales greater than $10 million will be required to be in compliance by July 26, 2018. Companies with sales below $10 million will have until July 26, 2019, to comply with the new rules.
The agency has also amended the reference amounts customarily consumed (RACCs) that are used to determine serving sizes. To address containers that may be consumed in a single-eating occasion, the FDA will require that all containers, including containers of products with “large” RACCs (i.e., products with RACCs of at least 100 grams or 100 milliliters), containing less than 200 percent of the RACC be labeled as a single-serving container.
To address containers and units that may be consumed in one or more sittings, or shared, the FDA said containers and units that contain at least 200 percent and up to and including 300 percent of the RACC be labeled with a column of nutrition information within the Nutrition Facts label that lists the quantitative amounts and percent daily values for the entire container, in addition to the required column listing the quantitative amounts and per cent D.V.s for a serving that is less than the entire container (i.e., the serving size derived from the RACC).
