Food industry gets more time to update nutrition info
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is giving food and beverage manufacturers additional time to comply with labeling requirements that were supposed to take effect this year. The FDA has published a final rule to extend the compliance date for two rules, the Nutrition Facts Label Final Rule and the Serving Size Final Rule, for about 1.5 years. The dates have been extended from July 26, 2018, to January 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales and from July 26, 2019, to January 1, 2021, for manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales. The final rules were published on May 27, 2016.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. said the extension will give the agency time to provide the food industry guidance and for the industry to complete and print updated Nutrition Facts labels. “It’s crucial that we provide clear expectations so that industry can meet them,” Gottlieb said.