Manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales now have until Jan. 1, 2020, to come into compliance. The previous compliance date was July 26 of this year. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales have until Jan. 1, 2021, which compared to a previous compliance date of July 26, 2019.
“This extension on the Nutrition Facts Label regulation will help ensure that we provide the food industry with guidance to help them modernize their Nutrition Facts labels and that industry has sufficient time to complete and print updated Nutrition Facts labels,” said Scott Gottlieb, M.D., commissioner of the FDA. “It’s crucial that we provide clear expectations so that industry can meet them. It’s just as important for consumers to be able to effectively use the updated food labels, and we’re launching a major educational campaign for consumers to help them better understand the new nutrition information that they’ll be seeing in the marketplace.”
The FDA in the May 27, 2016, issue of the Federal Register published its final rule on changes to the Nutrition Facts Label and gave the original compliance date. Some of the changes included a larger type size for calories, a mandatory declaration of added sugars, and a mandatory listing of vitamin D and potassium.
The FDA in September 2017 proposed to extend the compliance dates to Jan. 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual foods and to Jan. 1, 2021, for manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales. The FDA on May 3 of this year finalized that proposed rule.
