The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) started 2020 off strong; on January 1, 2020, FDA required compliance with new food and dietary supplement labeling regulations for manufacturers with ten million dollars in annual sales. Manufacturers with less than ten million dollars in sales had an extra year, by January 1, 2021, to comply. These modifications meant additional costs for food manufacturers and in some cases expanded research and analysis of products.
The FDA was going to implement these major updates in July of 2018 but announced on May 4, 2018, that the compliance date would be extended for nearly two years. These changes included a new design with emphasis on caloric content, modifications to serving size, and various adjustments to how they record, track and list vitamins, nutrients, and sugar content.
The full list of changes for the 2020 requirements include:
- Changing daily values for certain nutrients based on updated science
- Stating the amount of added sugars in addition to total sugars
- Updating serving sizes to those that reflect the amounts typically consumed by the American public, and as a consequence, requiring that larger packages be labeled as single-serving containers
- No longer requiring calories from fat be listed
- Drawing attention to nutrients like Calories by increasing font size requirements
- Updating vitamins and mineral listings in response to modern-day deficiency priorities (e.g., eliminating required Vitamin A and C declarations and replacing them with Vitamin D and Potassium declarations)
Enforcement Grace Period
The agency recently responded on its “Industry Resources on the Changes to the Nutrition Facts Label” webpage to manufacturer concerns of inadequate time to make the necessary changes to comply with the new updates. To allay industry fears, the FDA stated: “During the first 6 months following the January 1, 2020, compliance date, FDA plans to work cooperatively with manufacturers to meet the new Nutrition Facts label requirements and will not focus on enforcement actions regarding these requirements during that time.”
That being said, the FDA will likely come down hard on those that are not in compliance after this 6-month grace period. It is vital that companies begin working toward compliance now. FDAImports’ team of experienced consultants and attorneys guide food and beverage companies on all aspects of product labeling. Contact us today to learn more.
