The FDA published a final rule to extend the compliance date for two rules, the Nutrition Facts Label Final Rule and the Serving Size Final Rule, for about 1.5 years. The dates have been extendedfrom July 26, 2018, to January 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales and from July 26, 2019, to January 1, 2021, for manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales, giving the “smaller” companies an additional year to comply. The final rules were published on May 27, 2016.
The FDA determined that additional time would help ensure that all manufacturers covered by the final rules have sufficient time to complete and print updated Nutrition Facts labels for their products.
“Working toimprove the nutrition and diet of Americans can be a transformative effort that helps reduce the burden of many chronic diseases, ranging from diabetes to cancer to heart disease.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,” says FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. “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 Nutrition Facts Label final rule reflects updated scientific information, including the link between diet and chronic diseases such as obesity and heart disease. The new label will make it easier for consumers to make better-informed food choices. For example, it requires the declaration of “added sugars” and an updated list of vitamins and minerals of public health significance.
The FDA issued the Serving Size final rule to update the serving size requirements to more accurately reflect what people actually eat and drink and set new labeling requirements for certain size packages.
