"This proposal plays a key role in the agency's nutrition priorities, which are part of a government-wide effort in combatting the nation's chronic disease crisis," the FDA said in a statement Tuesday.
The proposed label, also called the nutrition info box, would break down information about sodium, added sugar and saturated fat content by saying whether the food contains "Low," "Med" or "High" levels of the nutrients. The nutrition label on the back of products would remain and complement the information on the front of the label.
A few different design options were tested in a representative sample of US adults to see which type of packaging allowed consumers to make "quicker and more accurate assessments" of products, the agency said, and the proposed option performed best in most cases.
"Participants provided more correct answers regarding the helpfulness of the product than the other schemes tested and also spent significantly less time evaluating the nutrient profile of the product," Dr. Robin McKinnon, acting director for the FDA's Nutrition Center of Excellence, said at a news briefing Tuesday.
Products that contain at least 20% of the daily value of a nutrient would be considered to have "high" levels, 5% or less would be "low," and the "medium" category would capture the rest.
The agency said that 60% of Americans have at least one chronic disease such as heart disease and diabetes and that the "excess consumption of saturated fat, sodium and added sugars" is a major contributing factor.
"The science on saturated fat, sodium and added sugars is clear," FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said in a statement. "Nearly everyone knows or cares for someone with a chronic disease that is due, in part, to the food we eat. It is time we make it easier for consumers to glance, grab and go. Adding front-of-package nutrition labeling to most packaged foods would do that. We are fully committed to pulling all the levers available to the FDA to make nutrition information readily accessible as part of our efforts to promote public health."
Comments on the proposal are open through May 16.
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Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, called the proposal "a step forward" but noted "a serious blind spot is the amount of whole grains vs refined grain."
"From a metabolic and health perspective, refined starch is similar to sugar, and on average we consume more refined starch than sugar," Willett said in an email.
Willett would like to see grams of fiber or whole grains on the front-of-the-package labeling, but says more consumer testing is needed and this "should not hold up the implementation of the proposed labeling."
Nancy Brown, the chief executive officer of the American Heart Association, said the proposal would simplify nutrition information and help consumers make healthier food purchases.
"By proposing front-of-pack labeling in the United States, the FDA is taking an important step to make nutrition information clearer and more accessible, and to empower consumers to make informed choices for their health and the health of their families," she said in a statement. "For decades, the Nutrition Facts label has been an essential tool to educate people across the country about the nutritional content of their food and drinks, but high rates of diet-related illnesses continue to show that additional actions are needed to address the confusion and barriers consumers face in evaluating and identifying better options."
If finalized, the rule will expect major food manufacturers to add the nutrition info box to most of their packaged foods three years after its effective date. Food manufacturers with less than $10 million in food sales annually would be expected to comply within four years.
CNN's Sandee LaMotte contributed to this report.
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