Page 68 - Farm and Food Policy Strategies for 2040 Series

commerce and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 gave FDA the authority to set identity
standards for food, which serve as the basis for regulation of many food label claims.

The biggest expansions of FDA label authority have come in the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and

Education Act (NLEA) and the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The former led to
the ubiquitous “nutrition facts” panel on nearly all packaged foods, listing calories, contents and

proportions of nutrients such as fats, sodium, sugar and carbohydrates. The latter is the basis of
requirements for labeling of calories for many restaurants, still a work in progress.

How will food be labeled and regulated in the future?

If the recent past is an indicator, both FDA and USDA are likely to maintain or increase food
labeling activities. The sweeping “FDA Nutrition Innovation Strategy” published a year ago lays
the groundwork for modernizing label claims and updating the “nutrition facts” label and menu

labeling requirements. It also suggests the possibility of developing a new icon for any food that
meets a new definition of “healthy.”

Outgoing FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb Outgoing FDA Commissioner Scott

Gottlieb also launched an effort to
update enforcement of the agency’s

standards of identity. Such standards
“help to ensure that consumers know
‘vanilla extract,’ for example, will

always be made from vanilla beans
and not artificial flavorings,” he said.
“We’re on a fast track to take a fresh

look at the labeling of products that are

being positioned in the marketplace as
substitutes for dairy products,” he
added. “Implementing clear and

transparent food labels and claims is
an issue I’ve made a high priority.”

FDA’s request for comments attracted

thousands of pleas from dairy farmers, led by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF),
for a ban on labels of plant-based or nut-based products — almond milk or soy cheese, for

example. Fans and marketers of substitute products countered. The San Francisco-based Plant
Based Foods Association (PBFA) told FDA that “most people, at least 7%, are in support of
using the term ‘milk’ on the label of plant-based milks.”

Dairy products may not be alone in FDA’s new approach to standards of identity. The emergence
of “cauliflower rice,” which is not actually rice but is cauliflower processed into rice-like

morsels and packaged, has drawn the attention of rice producers and processors. The grocery
chain Trader Joe’s may have defused the controversy, labeling the product “riced cauliflower.”

FDA is likely to continue to feel pressure to define the term “natural” on food labels and product
names. Reaching a common definition “would be a big assist to the food industry,” says Michael
J. O’Flaherty, an attorney at Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz in Washington, citing a

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