The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act requires most foods sold to consumers to provide nutrition information on their containers to inform consumers about the nutritional value of food and help them make healthier food choices. It established guidelines for food manufacturers to include information about servings, calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, cholesterol, sugars, sodium, and minerals and vitamins. The act also requires labels to provide a daily value as a general guide and the Secretary of Health and Human Services is responsible for ensuring compliance and educating the public about label changes.
The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, or NLEA, is a federal bill that was passed in 1990. It amended the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to require nearly all foods sold to consumers to provide nutrition information on their containers. One of the purposes of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act was to inform consumers about the nutritional value of food and help them make healthier food choices. The NLEA also made labeling regulations more uniform so that consumers could more easily understand the labels of the food they buy.
The NLEA established guidelines for the information that food manufacturers must include on labels. Information about servings is one of the requirements. Most of the nutrition information is based on serving size. In addition, the number of servings per container is also required to be provided. In this way, the consumer not only knows the nutritional information of a serving, but, from that information, could find out the nutritional information of an entire package of food.
Other required information on the label includes the number of calories per serving, as well as the total amount of fat and saturated fat. The amount of protein, carbohydrate, and fiber in the food must also be listed on the label. In addition, information on cholesterol, sugars, and sodium should be included. The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act also requires that mineral and vitamin information be provided to the consumer.
It can only be useful for consumers to know the nutritional information about the food they are eating if they can put it in context. For this reason, part of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act also requires labels to provide a daily value as a general guide. This can be based on a population average, such as a 2,000 calorie diet, for example. By providing this information, the consumer will know, by looking at the label, not only how much dietary fiber is in a serving of food, but also how much of the recommended daily intake that serving provides.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services is the person responsible for ensuring compliance with the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act regulations. He or she may also exempt certain foods from the labeling requirement or require additional nutrients to be placed on the label. Another part of this law is educating the public about label changes and how to read them properly so that consumers can be informed and make healthier food choices.
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