FDA Seeks Opinions on ‘Healthy’ Definition

The agency wants to redefine how the word “healthy” can be used on food labels.

September 30, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. – What does “healthy” mean to you? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants to know as it considers how to redefine the term for food labeling, Marketing Daily reports.

The agency has officially opened comments on the issue, which can be submitted in writing through January 26, 2017. During this process, the FDA has indicated it would exercise “discretion” and not enforce the current healthy definition on certain foods with specific nutritional content. The agency also said it would hold public hearings, but those dates haven’t been announced.

Earlier this year, the FDA pointed out that rules related to “healthy” food labels needed reevaluation after it changed its earlier ruling that Kind bars had to halt use of “healthy” on its packaging because the products didn’t have the appropriate ingredients. Kind filed a citizen’s petition requesting the agency take a closer look at “healthy” regulations, which the company claimed contradicted nutrition research and the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans. One thing Kind objected to was that to be labeled “healthy,” most foods had to be low in saturated fats, which meant foods with avocados, nuts and salmon couldn’t use the term, but foods like “fat-free puddings and sugary cereals” could.

“We know that many consumers use the Nutrition Facts label, especially when they are buying a food for the first time,” wrote Douglas Balentine, who directs the agency’s Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling, in a blog on the topic. “Often, there are also a lot of other terms on food packages such as ‘healthy,’ ‘low in fat,’ or ‘good source’… As our understanding about nutrition has evolved, we need to make sure the definition for the ‘healthy’ labeling claim stays up to date.”

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