FDA to extend compliance date for nutrition labeling
On June 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling updated its “Changes to the Nutrition Facts Label” webpage stating that it intends to extend the compliance date for the new requirements.
On June 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling updated its “Changes to the Nutrition Facts Label” webpage stating that it intends to extend the compliance date for the new requirements. When the rule was initially finalized in May 2016, the agency set the compliance date for July 26, 2018, with an additional year to comply for manufacturers with annual food sales of less than $10 million.
According to the FDA, it received feedback from industry and consumer groups who were concerned about the compliance dates. “After careful consideration, the FDA determined that additional time would provide manufacturers covered by the rule with necessary guidance from FDA, and would help them be able to complete and print updated nutrition facts panels for their products before they are expected to be in compliance,” wrote the agency on its website.
The announcement doesn’t state how long the compliance dates will be extended, only detailing that “the framework for the extension will be guided by the desire to give industry more time and decrease costs, balanced with the importance of minimizing the transition period during which consumers will see both the old and the new versions of the label in the marketplace.” The FDA will provide details of the extension through a Federal Register Notice at a later time.
In response to the announcement, Cary Frye, vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs for the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), released the following statement: “On behalf of our members, we thank the Food and Drug Administration for extending the compliance timeline for the new Nutrition Facts label and Serving Size rules. Dairy foods companies are committed to giving consumers the information they need to make informed choices, and appreciate the extra time to be sure that the information on the labels is complete and accurate … Our member companies are hopeful that once FDA announces the new implementation timeline they will be able to avoid the confusion and extra cost incurred by changing their product labels twice—first to comply with the changes to the Nutrition Facts label and again when the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture specifies how genetically engineered foods and ingredients need to be labeled.”