[The updated definition may help foster a healthier food supply if
manufacturers add more vegetables or whole grains to meet criteria or
develop products that meet the updated definition; it may help
consumers identify healthier food choices.]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

FDA PROPOSES UPDATED DEFINITION OF ‘HEALTHY’ CLAIM ON FOOD
PACKAGES TO HELP IMPROVE DIET, REDUCE CHRONIC DISEASE  
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FDA News Release
September 28, 2022
FDA News
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_ The updated definition may help foster a healthier food supply if
manufacturers add more vegetables or whole grains to meet criteria or
develop products that meet the updated definition; it may help
consumers identify healthier food choices. _

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Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed updated criteria
for when foods can be labeled with the nutrient content claim
“healthy” on their packaging. This proposed rule would align the
definition of the “healthy” claim with current nutrition science,
the updated Nutrition Facts label and the current Dietary Guidelines
for Americans.

More than 80% of people in the U.S. aren’t eating enough vegetables,
fruit and dairy. And most people consume too much added sugars,
saturated fat and sodium. The proposed rule is part of the agency’s
ongoing commitment to helping consumers improve nutrition and dietary
patterns to help reduce the burden of chronic disease and advance
health equity.

The proposed rule comes on the heels of the White House Conference on
Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, as well as the release of the related
national strategy, which aims to end hunger, improve nutrition and
physical activity, reduce diet-related diseases and close disparity
gaps by 2030.

“Nutrition is key to improving our nation’s health,” said HHS
Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Healthy food can lower our risk for
chronic disease. But too many people may not know what constitutes
healthy food. FDA’s move will help educate more Americans to improve
health outcomes, tackle health disparities and save lives.”

The proposed rule would update the “healthy” claim definition to
better account for how all the nutrients in various food groups
contribute and may work synergistically to create healthy dietary
patterns and improve health. Under the proposed definition for the
updated “healthy” claim, which is based on current nutrition
science, more foods that are part of a healthy dietary pattern and
recommended by the Dietary Guidelines would be eligible to use the
claim on their labeling, including nuts and seeds, higher fat fish
(such as salmon), certain oils and water.

“Diet-related chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and
Type 2 diabetes, are the leading causes of death and disability in the
U.S. and disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minority
groups,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. “Today’s
action is an important step toward accomplishing a number of
nutrition-related priorities, which include empowering consumers with
information to choose healthier diets and establishing healthy eating
habits early. It can also result in a healthier food supply.” 

Under the proposed definition, in order to be labeled with the
“healthy” claim on food packaging, the products would need to:

Contain a certain meaningful amount of food from at least one of the
food groups or subgroups (e.g., fruit, vegetable, dairy, etc.)
recommended by the Dietary Guidelines. 

Adhere to specific limits for certain nutrients, such as saturated
fat, sodium and added sugars. The threshold for the limits is based on
a percent of the Daily Value (DV) for the nutrient and varies
depending on the food and food group. The limit for sodium is 10% of
the DV per serving (230 milligrams per serving).

For example, a cereal would need to contain ¾ ounces of whole grains
and contain no more than 1 gram of saturated fat, 230 milligrams of
sodium and 2.5 grams of added sugars.

“Healthy eating patterns are associated with improved health, yet
most people’s eating patterns do not align with current dietary
recommendations,” said Susan Mayne, Ph.D., director of the FDA
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “In addition to
today’s action, we continue to advance a number of FDA initiatives
and explore new ways to coordinate, leverage and amplify important
work going on across the nutrition ecosystem to help improve
people’s diets and make a profound impact on the health of current
and future generations.”

Along with empowering consumers, adopting the updated definition may
help foster a healthier food supply if some manufacturers reformulate
(e.g., add more vegetables or whole grains to meet criteria) or
develop products that meet the updated definition.

Because consumers have long been interested in finding ways to more
easily identify healthy foods, the agency is also in the process of
studying and exploring the development of a symbol that manufacturers
could use to show that their product meets the “healthy” claim
criteria. The agency realizes that consumers are busy and, while
shopping, may be seeking a quick way to identify and select healthy
products. The updated “healthy” claim, and potential symbol,
together would act as quick signals to help consumers identify
healthier food choices more easily.

The FDA is participating in today’s White House Conference on
Hunger, Nutrition, and Health and will continue to take steps in
support of the national strategy to improve nutrition and health and
empower all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices.
Specifically, the agency remains committed to continuing to create a
healthier food supply through its recently released guidance to reduce
sodium in processed, packaged and prepared foods; to providing
consumers with accessible nutrition information about the foods they
eat; and to providing industry with recommendations on how to use
dietary guidance statements on food labeling. Future planned actions
include:

Developing a front-of-package (FOP) labeling system to quickly and
more easily communicate nutrition information to empower consumers to
make healthy decisions.

Facilitating making nutrition information easily available when
grocery shopping online.

Facilitating lowering the sodium content of food in the food supply,
including by issuing revised, lower voluntary sodium reduction targets
for industry.

Holding a public meeting regarding future steps the federal government
could take to facilitate lowering added sugar consumption.

Releasing additional education and outreach efforts to ensure that
parents and caregivers are aware of the latest recommendations for
healthy eating in young children and for taking steps to reduce
exposure to toxic elements in food.

* healthy eating; nutrition
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* FDA
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* food manufacturers
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