On December 1, 2016, USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service ("FSIS") proposed to amend the nutrition labeling regulations for meat and poultry products to parallel FDA's final nutrition regulations, published on May 27, 2016. Specifically, FSIS proposed to: (i) update the list of nutrients that are required or permitted to be declared (for example, requiring the declaration of "added sugars"); (ii) provide updated Daily Reference Values and Reference Daily Intake values that are based on current dietary recommendations from consensus reports (for example, lowering the sodium value from 2,400 mg to 2,300 mg); (iii) amend the labeling requirements for foods represented or purported to be specifically for children under the age of four years and for pregnant and lactating women, and establish nutrient reference values specifically for these population subgroups; (iv) revise the format and appearance of the Nutrition Facts label to, among other things, increase the prominence of "Calories" and "Serving size"; (v) amend the definition of "single-serving container"; (vi) require dual-column labeling for certain containers; (vii) update and modify several reference amounts customarily consumed; and (viii) consolidate the nutrition labeling regulations for meat and poultry products into a new Code of Federal Regulations part. FSIS intends the proposed rule to "better reflect the most recent scientific research and dietary recommendations and to improve the presentation of nutrition information to assist consumers in maintaining healthy dietary practices." FSIS is seeking public comment for 60 days from the publication date.
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