Nutrition Symbols to be Examined

The U.S. food industry has begun to use on labels symbols and icons indicating a foods nutritional quality that have been developed by companies to promote their products and provide consumers with easily understandable nutrition information. However, each symbol program has different nutrient requirements?the selected nutrients and the nutrient levels required for eligibility vary among the different programs. In addition, eligible food products could carry multiple symbols. Similar voluntary programs exist throughout the world. FDA is announcing a public hearing Sept. 10 and 11, 2007 regarding the use of symbols to communicate nutrition information on food labels to solicit information and comments about current programs.

The following issues and questions are up for discussion at the hearing:

There are many food label nutrition symbol programs currently in the domestic and international marketplace. Each system uses different nutrition criteria and requirements regarding eligibility for use. The agency would like information on the food products that bear nutrition symbols and the nutrient requirements for those symbols.

1. In what product categories are nutrition symbols used (e.g., packaged foods, fresh produce, meat/poultry, seafood)?

2. Which symbols are nutrient specific, and which are summary symbols based on multiple nutrients?

3. What are the nutritional criteria, including calories, included in a symbol system and how were those particular nutritional criteria chosen for inclusion?

4. What nutrient thresholds and/or algorithms are used to determine if a food product may display a nutrient specific or summary symbol?

5. Are nutrition symbols presented together with front label nutrition claims such as low fat or good source of calcium and, if so, to what extent and for what types of claims?

6. Are there programs to educate consumers to understand the nutrition symbols or is all information contained in the symbols?

7. When education programs are available, how are they presented?

The presence of nutrition symbols could affect the food purchasing decisions of consumers. Symbols could help consumers make food choices, but it is also possible that symbols could introduce confusion when making decisions. The agency would like information on consumer research that supported the development of these programs and research that illustrates how these programs are understood and utilized by consumers.

1. What are consumer attitudes toward nutrition symbols?

2. What are consumer attitudes toward products or brands that carry a nutrition symbol compared to other products or brands in the same product category (e.g., cereals) and in other categories that do not carry such a symbol?

3. What are consumer interpretations of symbol-carrying products or brands in terms of their overall healthfulness, specific health benefits, featured nutrition attributes, nonfeatured nutrition attributes, quality, safety, and any other non-nutrition attributes?

4. What is consumer perception of the presence of multiple and different nutrition symbols on front labels of different brands in a given product category, e.g., cereals?

5. What is consumer interpretation of the co-existence on the food label of symbols and/or other nutrition messages, when present, and quantitative nutrition information (e.g., the Nutrition Facts label that appears on foods in the United States)?

6. What is consumer interpretation of the co-existence of front-label nutrition symbols and nutrition symbols present on the tags of supermarket shelves, when available?

7. When do consumers use nutrition symbols and what do they use them for?

8. Do nutrition symbols on food labels direct consumers toward purchase of foods that bear them and, if so, to what extent?

9. Do symbols affect the nutritional quality of the total diet of consumers who use the symbols and, if so, to what extent?

The availability of a nutrition symbol for use on the food label could have an impact on costs for both industry and for consumers. The agency would like information on possible economic impacts.

1. To what extent, if any, have products been developed or re-formulated to qualify them for a given nutrition symbol?

2. What are the costs associated with product development, re-formulation, or both?

3. What are the costs associated with putting symbols on packages?

4. What, if any, are the price differences between symbol-carrying products and other products within the same category?

5. Has inclusion of nutrition symbols on the labels of food products affected the sales of those products?

Interested parties are asked to submit written or electronic comments (submissions other than notices of participation and written material associated with an oral presentation) by November 12, 2007. Submit electronic requests to register and notices of participation for the hearing to http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/register.html. Submit written requests to register and notices of participation, and written material associated with an oral presentation to: Kathy Houston, Z-Tech Corp., 1803 Research Blvd., suite 301, Rockville, MD 20850, 301-251-4976, FAX: 301-315-2801, or e-mail: [email protected]. Submit written comments to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Submit electronic comments to http://www.fda.gov/dockets/ecomments.

The full Federal Register notice can be found at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/E7-14046.htm.