USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on Thursday proposed to amend the nutrition labeling regulations for meat and poultry products to parallel the Food and Drug Administration’s final nutrition regulations, which were published in May. “This new rule will prove more transparency on nutrition labels so that American consumers can make informed decisions about the foods they eat and feed their families,” said Alfred Almanza, USDA’s deputy under secretary for food safety.
One of the most visible changes proposed will be a change in the format and appearance of the Nutrition Facts label on meat and poultry products. FSIS has proposed to increase the type size for the “Calories,” “servings per container,” and “serving size” segments, as well as bold-typing the number of calories per serving and the “serving size” recommendation. Additional proposed changes listed include, but are not limited to:
- Update the list of dietary nutrients required or permitted to be declared on labels;
- Update Daily Reference Values and Reference Daily Intake values that are based on current dietary recommendations from consensus reports; and,
- Amend the labeling requirements for foods intended specifically for children younger than 4 years old and pregnant and lactating women. New nutrient reference values specifically for these groups will be established.
Last, FSIS has proposed to distill the nutrient labeling regulations for meat and poultry products into one Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) section. The current nutrition labeling regulations for these products are separated into two CFR sections (9 CFR 317.300-317.400 for meat, and 9 CFR 381.400-381.500 for poultry). The new location for the regulations will be located in 9 CFR 413.
FSIS proposes that large manufacturers will have a compliance period of 2 years, while small manufacturers will have 3 years to comply. Comments on the proposed rule will be due 60 days after it has published to the Federal Register and may be submitted online at the Federal eRulemaking Portal by searching Docket No. FSIS-2014-0024. The complete proposed rule is available here.
