NUTRITION LABELLING REGULATIONS
The labelling of the nutritional level had been made mandatory in 1990 in the United States of America in all the food products, specially the ones who claims to have additional features in the food product, like, “low carbohydrate” or “calcium rich”. Especially from 2006, special regulation has been set up for trans fatty acids. It is now mandatory to mention the level of trans fatty acids on all the food products, keeping in mind the growing risk of cardiovascular diseases. Though the list of contents is bit different among different countries, but the basic motive remains the same, that is educating consumers about their intake. Consumers are thus made aware about the quantities of different nutrients they are ingesting. Also in some products, along with the quantity of nutrients present in the product, the Recommended Daily Allowances are also mentioned to make it more convenient for the consumers.
The information the label of a food product must contain are :
1) Name of the food product, name and address of its manufacturer and its total content in terms of weight, measure or count.
2) List of ingredients added to the product in order of their importance and weight used, in decreasing order
3) Size of each serving should be mentioned on the label.
4) The amount of each nutrient that can be consumed in a single serving should be mentioned clearly.
5) If a food product claims to be specific in nature, as for example, if a company claims that its food product is fat free, then the total quantity of fat present in it has to pass a certain prescribed level.
These guidelines are given in the Nutrition Labelling and Education Act of 1990 by USA and FDA.
REFERENCES
Nutrition labelling and education act of 1990
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrition_Labelling_and_Education_Act_of_1990
All about food labels
http://www.healthchecksystems.com/label.htm
Nutrition label facts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrition_facts_label
Whitney, E., Rolfes, R.S. (2010) Understanding Nutrition. USA: Wadsworth Cengage
Learning ( ch.2.3 pg.53-58)
