Feb 22, 2023 07:25 PM
https://www.statnews.com/2023/02/21/cere...a-healthy/
EXCERPTS: General Mills, Kellogg’s, and the rest of the country’s cereal makers are mad at the FDA. So are the packaged food companies, the pasta industry, and the pickle lobby (yes, it exists).
The companies behind America’s favorite culinary indulgences are worried their products wouldn’t be considered “healthy” under a recent Food and Drug Administration proposal — and they’re urging regulators to reconsider.
SNAC International, which represents companies like chip makers Frito-Lay and Utz, say the FDA’s restrictions around added sugars and salt are too restrictive.
[...] The FDA put out the guidelines at issue back in September, arguing that to be marketed as “healthy,” foods would have to include a certain amount of key nutritious ingredients, like fruits and vegetables, and have little added sugar, sodium, and saturated fat. The agency’s proposal would not ban unhealthy foods; those that don’t meet the FDA’s standard simply couldn’t be labeled as healthy.
The backlash could have a real impact on the FDA’s push to update food labels.
The Consumer Brands Association, which represents packaged food corporations like Hostess, Mondelēz, General Mills, and both Pepsi and Coca-Cola, is so upset by the FDA’s proposal that it is implying it may sue. In a lengthy, 54-page comment, the group says that the regulation infringes on food companies’ First Amendment rights.
[...] The swift backlash from the food industry is a clear exemplification of the challenges the FDA has faced trying to more closely regulate nutrition in the United States. It took the FDA nearly six years to come up with its proposed “healthy” guidelines. All the while, other nations have set much more stringent restrictions on unhealthy foods. Countries like Mexico, Chile, and Israel, for example, require food makers to include large warnings on the front of their packages when they contain excess sodium, fat, or sugar. (The FDA announced in January that it was studying how to implement a similar warning, more than a decade after Congress directed the federal government to consider the idea.)
“It’s baffling to see the amount of pushback,” said Eva Greenthal, a senior policy scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “The FDA has its work cut out for [it], but the agency just has to focus on its mission to protect public health and resist pressure from industry, whose only mission is to profit even at the cost of our health.” (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: General Mills, Kellogg’s, and the rest of the country’s cereal makers are mad at the FDA. So are the packaged food companies, the pasta industry, and the pickle lobby (yes, it exists).
The companies behind America’s favorite culinary indulgences are worried their products wouldn’t be considered “healthy” under a recent Food and Drug Administration proposal — and they’re urging regulators to reconsider.
SNAC International, which represents companies like chip makers Frito-Lay and Utz, say the FDA’s restrictions around added sugars and salt are too restrictive.
[...] The FDA put out the guidelines at issue back in September, arguing that to be marketed as “healthy,” foods would have to include a certain amount of key nutritious ingredients, like fruits and vegetables, and have little added sugar, sodium, and saturated fat. The agency’s proposal would not ban unhealthy foods; those that don’t meet the FDA’s standard simply couldn’t be labeled as healthy.
The backlash could have a real impact on the FDA’s push to update food labels.
The Consumer Brands Association, which represents packaged food corporations like Hostess, Mondelēz, General Mills, and both Pepsi and Coca-Cola, is so upset by the FDA’s proposal that it is implying it may sue. In a lengthy, 54-page comment, the group says that the regulation infringes on food companies’ First Amendment rights.
[...] The swift backlash from the food industry is a clear exemplification of the challenges the FDA has faced trying to more closely regulate nutrition in the United States. It took the FDA nearly six years to come up with its proposed “healthy” guidelines. All the while, other nations have set much more stringent restrictions on unhealthy foods. Countries like Mexico, Chile, and Israel, for example, require food makers to include large warnings on the front of their packages when they contain excess sodium, fat, or sugar. (The FDA announced in January that it was studying how to implement a similar warning, more than a decade after Congress directed the federal government to consider the idea.)
“It’s baffling to see the amount of pushback,” said Eva Greenthal, a senior policy scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “The FDA has its work cut out for [it], but the agency just has to focus on its mission to protect public health and resist pressure from industry, whose only mission is to profit even at the cost of our health.” (MORE - missing details)