FDA to modify food label guidelines to include added sugar details

Soda, spaghetti sauce and other packaged foods in the United States for the first time will carry labels that prominently state how much added sugar they contain, a change aimed at combating obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

The added sugar requirement, announced on Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is part of the biggest revamp of the nation’s food labeling rules since Nutrition Facts labels debuted on packages more than two decades ago.

The change is broadly supported by public health officials, consumer groups and first lady Michelle Obama, who has used her White House position to battle childhood obesity.

“This is going to make a real difference in providing families across the country the information they need to make healthy choices,” Obama said.

The FDA said large processed food makers have two years to adopt the new guidelines, which also highlight calories, servings and servings per container.

Currently, companies are required to provide details on the total amount of sugar in a product. Under the modified guidelines, they will have to break down details on the amount of added sugar such as corn syrup and white and brown sugar.

Information about “Calories from Fat” will be removed because research shows the type of fat is more important than the amount, the FDA said.

“What and how much people eat and drink has changed since the last serving size requirements were published in 1993,” the FDA said.

Michael Jacobson, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which first petitioned the FDA to put added sugars on Nutrition Facts labels in 1999, said the new rules could prompt food makers to rethink their recipes.

“Besides helping consumers make more informed choices, the new labels should also spur food manufacturers to add less sugar to their products,” Jacobson said.

Obesity is has hit crisis proportions in many countries around the globe.

In the United States more than one-third of adults and about 17 percent of youth aged 2 to 19 are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable death. The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 U.S. dollars, according to CDC.

(Additional reporting by Dipika Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey and Phil Berlowitz)