• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, September 29, 2017

The Food and Drug Administration has proposed delaying the compliance dates for the revised Nutrition Facts label by 18 months.

The FDA and then-First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled the final revised label in May 2016. 

This week, the agency’s new leadership announced a proposed rule to delay the implementation deadline for large companies from July 2018 to January 2020, and the deadline for “small” companies (those with annual sales under $10 million) from July 2019 to January 2021.

While the delay is in the form of a proposal that provides for public comment, advocates for the revised label say that, given the Trump administration’s record to date on public health issues and pressure from the food industry, it is highly unlikely that the FDA will reverse itself and retain the 2018 compliance dates. 

In fact, a release from the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) praises the FDA’s “announced extension” of the compliance date, rather than referring to it as a proposal. 

“FDA’s new compliance date will provide companies with the necessary time to execute these updates” in “a manner that will reduce consumer confusion and costs in the marketplace,” and “allow FDA to complete the necessary final guidance documents for added sugars and dietary fibers,” GMA president and CEO states in the release. 

Backed by scientific and medical research pointing to excessive sugar consumption being associated with obesity, heart disease and a variety of other health conditions, the new label requires, for the first time, disclosure of sugar added during food processing (as opposed to naturally occurring sugar) in grams and as a percentage of a day’s recommended maximum intake of sugar. 

Peter G. Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, released a statement charging that the delay “is all the more shocking coming on the heels of the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reported that all 50 states had prevalences of self-reported obesity higher than 20% in 2016, reflecting an upward trend since 2010.”

Despite “the critical public health need for the updated labels, the Trump Administration has yielded to the industry’s arguments that it will cost it too much to meet the original deadlines,” Lurie asserted. “The FDA also blamed its favorite scapegoat, the Obama Administration, for rushing the agency to implement the new requirements and giving it too little time to provide guidance to the industry.”

He added that the “hollowness” of these FDA arguments are underscored by public statements made by major companies including Campbell, Hershey, Panera and Mars affirming their commitment to the original July 2018 compliance date, as well as the numerous products that already carry the updated label. 

Label tracking firm Label Insight estimates that at least 8,000 products from dozens of companies (both national brands and private label), have adopted the new label, Lurie pointed out.

Big-brand products bearing the updated label include Triscuit’s entire line, Wheat Thins Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Snacks, Fritos Honey BBQ Flavor Twists, Green Giant Beet Noodles, and Marie Callender’s Dutch Apple Loaf.