New Food Labeling Regulations and the Flow of Nutrition Information to Consumers

Abstract

The policy debate over producers’ role in disseminating nutrition information to consumers has culminated in the passage of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA), which requires the Food and Drug Administration to implement sweeping changes in the regulations governing food labeling. The authors summarize the major features of the new labeling regulations and examine their likely impacts on the flow of nutrition information to consumers, using USDA nutrition data for a wide variety of foods consumed in 1989. Their analysis indicates that, though much in the new labeling rules is likely to improve consumer information, a number of important features of the rules raise concerns that the provision of key types of information that could be used to improve food choices will be deterred. The authors attempt to highlight those issues for which evidence would be most useful in informing the policy debate as the labeling rules are refined and food advertising policy is adapted to harmonize with the labeling rules.