Food Labels and Health Claims Often Confuse Shoppers, Part I?

Answer 1

According to a recent article in the Vancouver Sun, the food industry has introduced more than 20,000 “healthier product” choices since 2002. However, the claims on many labels often do more to confuse the average grocery shopper rather than actually helping consumers to make better food choices.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration is charged with monitoring the truthfulness of claims found on food product labels under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA). The act states that nutrient content claims and certain health messages must comply with specific requirements set forth by the agency.

Part I of this series will attempt to explain nutrient content claims while Part II will identify health claims that are approved by the FDA (and those that are not).

A nutrient content claim, sometimes shortened to read NCC, is a “claim on a food product that directly or by implication characterizes the level of a nutrient in the food.” The requirements are complex, but in general, guidelines are set for the use of terms such as “free”, “reduced”, or “light”.

When a food is labeled as “low calorie”, it must have less than 40 calories per serving. The exceptions to this rule are foods that are intended to be used as main dishes or entire meals (as the case of a frozen dinner). To be considered low calorie, a food must have 120 calorie or less per 100 grams. For foods listed as “reduced calorie”, the food must contain 25% fewer calories than an appropriate reference food. For example, reduced calorie pancake syrup must have ¼ fewer calories than its companies “regular” version.

A confusing nutrient claim is the term “light” or “lite”. In fact, for some foods, the word does not indicate calorie level, but instead color – such as “extra-light olive oil”.

Foods claiming to be low in fat must contain 3 grams or less of total fat per 100 grams AND the total fat content cannot be more than 30% of the calories. To be considered “reduced fat”, the food must have at least 25% less fat than a similar product. Saturated fat content has its own set of guidelines. A food cannot be considered low in saturated fat unless it contains 1 gram of less and 15% or less of the total calorie content is from sat fat.

“Free” is another widely used term, particularly with foods made to be “Fat-free” or “Sugar Free” But, in fact, a food does not have to be completely void of these nutrients to be considered fat free. If a product has less than ½ gram of fat or less than ½ gram of sugar, it can be labeled as fat-free or sugar-free respectively.

Probably one of the most confusing nutrient claims, particularly for diabetics, is the term “no added sugar”. These foods cannot contain sucrose (table sugar) that is added during processing, but may include sugars naturally present in the food. For example, “no sugar added” ice cream may still contain lactose sugar from the milk and may also contain sugar alcohols which are not restricted in the requirement but can add to the overall carbohydrate content of the food.

For more on the FDA's Definitions of Nutrient Content Claims, visit www.fda.gov.

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