Sodium-reduction plan aimed at food manufacturers and foodservice operators.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued draft guidance for voluntary sodium-reduction targets for the food industry—just days after a court cleared the way for New York City to ne local restaurants for not labeling high-sodium items on their menus.
“While a majority of Americans reports watching or trying to reduce added salt in their diets, the deck has been stacked against them,” reads a press release issued by the FDA.
The FDA’s guidance seeks to reduce Americans’ sodium consumption to 3,000 milligrams per day in two years, and 2,300 mg per day in 10 years. On average, Americans today consume 3,400 mg of sodium per day, according to the FDA.
There will be two separate comment periods for the targets: 90 days for the short-term target and 150 days for the long-term target.
FDA also wants to crack down on ‘healthy’ claims.
The term “healthy” is tossed around so much that it’s starting to lose its meaning. And now, the FDA is taking steps to redefine the term altogether, USA Today reports.
It will start by soliciting comments from the public and experts. Companies currently can use the term “healthy” as a nutrient content claim if the food fits certain criteria for levels of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugar.
Ironically, the agency once excluded Kind Healthy Snacks products. In March 2015, the FDA issued a warning letter requesting the word “healthy” be removed from the back label of Kind wrappers and its website. Kind removed “healthy” from its wrappers but maintained that its usage was not a nutrient content claim. A little more than a year later, the FDA reversed its position, agreeing its usage permissible under the current rules.
Legislators are pitching a solution to puzzling expiration dates.
Legislation that would make expiration-date labeling more consistent and coherent, with the goal of reducing food waste, has been introduced in the U.S. Senate and House, CNBC reports.
“A huge number of Americans are confused about the date labels out there,” Dana Gunders, a scientist focused on food and agriculture for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the news organization. “The dates they’re navigating by are not meant to indicate the safety of food.”
Because they are prematurely tossing perfectly edible food, Americans are wasting up to 50% more food than they did in the 1970s, says the National Institutes of Health.
O Canada!—By the Numbers
Canada is exploring plain packaging for tobacco, which would require companies to use a standard color, size and shape for their products. The goal is to diminish the appeal of smoking to youth and potential smokers.
5 million - Number of Canadians who use tobacco
$4.4 million - Annual direct health-care costs associated with tobacco use in Canada
2012 - The year Australia implemented plain packaging, becoming the fırst country to do so
20 - Countries now looking at plain-packaging requirements
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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