The Food Labeling Modernization Act – an updated version of a bill first introduced in 2018 that was designed to help consumers make more informed purchases – has been introduced to the House and the Senate.
The 35-page bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a single, standard front-of-package nutrition labeling system “that clearly distinguishes between products of greater or lesser nutritional value.”
This would involve warning symbols for products high in saturated or trans fats, sodium, added sugars, “and any other nutrients the consumption of which should be limited or discouraged; and a stop-light, points, star, or other commonly recognized signaling system to scale or rank foods according to their overall health value.”
It also wades into the thorny issue of ‘natural,’ one of the most contentious words in food marketing, which the FDA started to probe in late 2015 with a request for comments (generating thousands of submissions), but has subsequently failed to pin down.
Read more at Food Navigator USA.