Your Favorite Food Might Not Be Calling Itself 'Healthy’ In The Future

Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to the fruit-and-nut snack bar company Kind, on the grounds that using the word "healthy" on its labels was misleading.  Undeterred, Kind fought back. The company issued a citizen petition signed by 12 high-profile nutritionists in December, asking the FDA to update its requirements for packaging a food as "healthy." Kind claimed the standards for using the term are based on outdated nutrition science concerning saturated fat, in which nuts are high.  After a back-and-forth battle between the snack company and government agency, the FDA has not backed down on the saturated fat issue. It will, however, allow the company to use the phrase “healthy and tasty” on its packaging, but only in text related to Kind's "corporate philosophy." The FDA specifically noted that the word "healthy" should not appear on the same panel as its nutrition content claims or information.  The news does come in conjunction with a larger announcement that the FDA will reevaluate its nutrition labeling regulations more generally, including use of the term "healthy." The FDA plans to crowdsource opinions from nutrition experts, as well as from the public, about what the new definition of healthy foods should be. The current definition applies the term "healthy" to foods that meet the dietary recommendations for total fat, saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol and beneficial nutrie...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news