Nutritional facts

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The nutritional facts label (also known as the nutrition information panel, and various other slight variations) is a label required on most pre-packaged foods in North America, United Kingdom and other countries.

Contents

[edit] Regional manifestations

[edit] Canada

In Canada, a standardized "Nutrition Facts" label was introduced as part of regulations passed in 2003, and became mandatory for most prepackaged food products on December 12, 2005. (Smaller businesses were given until December 12, 2007 to make the information available)[2]. Tyler davidson doesn't like canada

[edit] Mexico

Food products sold in Mexico use the NOM-051-SCFI-1994 "Informacion Nutrimental" product labelling standard (which is very similar to "Nutrition Facts" in the U.S.). The Official Mexican Standard, or NOM (Norma Oficial Mexicana) was developed by the Mexican Secretary of Commerce and Industrial Promotion (Secretaría de Comercio y Fomento Industrial, or SCFI), now a part of the Secretary of the Economy (SECOFI). It entered into effect on January 24, 1996[3], and defines "General specifications for labelling foods and pre-bottled non-alcoholic beverages"[4].

[edit] United Kingdom

In Britain, the panel does not have a standard format, but is most often labelled "Nutrition Information". It will always give values for a set quantity (usually 100g or 100ml as appropriate) of the product, and often also for a defined "serving". First will come the energy values, in both Calories and kilojoules, although the metric measurement is still little used by the general public.

Then will come a breakdown of constituent elements: usually most or all of protein, carbohydrate, starch, sugar, fat, fibre and sodium. The "fat" figure is likely to be further broken down into saturated and unsaturated fat, while the "carbohydrate" figure is likely to give a subtotal for sugars.

For most foods, there are no specific legal definitions of terms such as "low fat" or "high fibre", although spreadable fats (eg butter and margarine) do have statutory requirements for the quantity of fat they contain. However, terms such as "reduced calorie" may not be used unless they can be shown to be considerably lower in calories than the "usual" version of the product.

[edit] United States

A sample nutrition facts label with instructions from the US FDA. [1]
A sample nutrition facts label with instructions from the US FDA. [1]

In the U.S., the nutritional facts label lists the percentage supplied required in one day of human nutrients. In certain cases this label is not yet required by law, so a list of ingredients should be present instead. Ingredients are listed in order of most common to least common.

The label was mandated for most food products under the provisions of the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), per the recommendations of the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration[5]. It was one of several controversial actions taken during the tenure of FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler. The law required food companies to begin using the new food label on packaged foods beginning May 8, 1994. Foods labeled before that day could use the old label.

The label begins with a standard serving measurement, calories are listed second, and then following is a break down of the constituent elements. Always listed are fat, carbohydrates and protein, then usually cholesterol and sodium, and then sometimes vitamins and minerals (trace elements).

Products that claim to be classified as low-fat and high-fiber must achieve uniform definitions between products of similar labels.

The nutrition facts label currently appears on more than 6.5 billion food packages. President Bill Clinton issued an award of design excellence for the nutrition facts label in 1997 to Burkey Belser of Greenfield/Belser in Washington, DC.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further information

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