On June 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is postponing the compliance deadline for new rules for the Nutrition Facts Label, previously discussed here. The deadline had been July 26, 2018. Details of the extension will be published in the Federal Register at some future date.
The changes to the label are intended to make the information on it easier to understand. The FDA said the delay would give manufacturers covered by the rule additional time for compliance, including developing and printing updated nutrition facts panels for their products. The FDA's announcement includes detailed examples of new label formats and a helpful Q&A section.
While some industry groups had requested the deadline extension, the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) criticized the delay. "As with its delay of menu labeling, the FDA will end up denying consumers critical information they need to make healthy food choices in a timely manner and will throw the food industry into disarray," said Jim O'Hara, CSPI's director of health promotion policy.
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