Congress Recommends Simplified Nutritional Info

The packages on supermarket shelves could be getting a makeover in the wake of a new report ordered by Congress. According to the Los Angeles Times, it recommends a standardized and more intuitive system for labeling the nutritional information and ingredients in packaged food. According to the report, a simplified system would make it easier for consumers to judge the nutritional content of the food.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the front of every grocery product – whether a bottle of soda or a head of lettuce- should show the calorie count of a dingle serving. Each label should also prominently feature up to three 'points' – such as saturated and trans fats, sodium content, or added sugars. Under the proposed plan, these tags would be developed by the FDA and the USDA, and would be represented by symbols such as check marks or stars. The more points on the label, the healthier the product is, according to the report.

According to the study, additional nutritional data listed on product packaging serves to confuse shoppers. As a result, the study recommended that it is time for “a move away from systems that mostly provide nutrition information without clear guidance about its healthfulness.”