Nov. 13--Choosing healthier products in the grocery store might get easier for
consumers when food-makers start putting nutrition labels on the front of
packages.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is creating voluntary guidelines
for food-makers and retailers interested in putting easier-to-read labels on
the front of food packages and beverages.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute
will put $50 million into a campaign next year to let people know about the
new labels.
Consumers could start seeing the new labels in the next six months. FDA
spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey said it's too early to say whether the labels
will be larger or include such things as images.
Either way, the move should help "parents and other shoppers easily
identify and select products that contribute to a healthy diet," the agency
said yesterday.
The FDA's food-label announcement comes in the same week that the agency
decided to replace current warnings on cigarette packs with larger labels that
include photographs of tombstones, cancers, corpses and other graphic images.
Julie Kennel, program director of Ohio State University's human-nutrition
department, said many manufacturers already highlight key nutrition facts on
the front of their packages.
It's the ones on the backs of products, however, that confuse many
people.
"The label certainly isn't friendly," Kennel said. "It's got a lot of
information that can sometimes overwhelm consumers. They're not sure what's
important."
Kennel said content information about calories, fiber, added sugars and
saturated and trans fats should be out front and highlighted in larger print.
Columbus Health Commissioner Dr. Teresa Long said in a statement
yesterday: "Any changes that help provide consumers with information they can
use would be an improvement."
Yesterday, outside the North Market, Iva Miller of Victorian Village said
that she likes the idea because she's always searching food labels for sodium
content.
"It's good to make people aware," Miller said.
Other consumers say it's not that difficult to find important information
on labels.
"I think that's a complete waste of time," Steve Thitoff of Minerva Park
said of the proposed labels.
Thitoff, who was shopping inside the North Market, said he usually scans
labels so he can avoid high-fructose corn syrup.
At the Giant Eagle in Victorian Village, Jaclyn Evans agreed. "It's just
typical, lazy American lifestyle," she said.
Information from The Washington Post was included in this story.
gpotthoff@dispatch.com
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