The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has unveiled a four-year plan that aims to meet seven goals by 2016 and details 100 initiatives related to food safety, nutrition and animal health.
The FDA Foods and Veterinary Medicine Programme includes initiatives related to food labelling and plans to work with industry on health goals.
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In particular, the report includes an update of the Nutrition Facts label on foods in order to highlight the most current information about nutrition and health, including potentially giving greater prominence to calorie declarations.
“The manner in which serving size information, daily values and key nutrients are communicated will also be updated,” the FDA said. It added a key initiative with the goals is to publish proposed and then final rules updating the labelling system.
The plan also includes a commitment to publish a final rule on the use of the term ‘gluten-free’ on product labels.
In addition, the report outlines a commitment to encouraging the food industry to reduce the amount of sodium included in packaged foods and served in restaurants.
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By GlobalData“In order to inform decisions about how best to reduce sodium content, the FVM Programme will research and analyse all relevant considerations, including the role of sodium in taste, safety and other important attributes of food products, as well as consumer behaviour,” the report noted.
Other considerations include reducing industrially-produced trans fats in the food supply, and an improvement in the detection and response to foodborne outbreaks and contamination.
Click here to view the full report.
