Washington, D.C. – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today the delayed implementation dates of rules that will require food and beverage manufacturers to update nutrition fact labels. This most recent 18-month implementation delay comes two years after the FDA issued final guidance for manufacturers on the rule in May 2016.
A statement from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) follows:
“The FDA’s decision to push back implementation of required updates to package labels that more clearly give consumers caloric and nutritional information is disappointing. With obesity and poor diet being leading risk factors for cancer, the FDA’s decision to delay implementation of this rule undermines public health.
“In particular, an important component of the updated nutrition facts label is the addition for the first time of information about added sugar content – a contributing factor to excess calories in the diet with no nutritional value. Without this information, consumers cannot determine how much added sugar their products contain. Consumers need access to up-to-date and useful information to aid them in making healthy food and beverage choices that could ultimately reduce their risk of cancer.
“As ACS CAN works to support policies and practices that will reduce the pain and suffering of cancer, we call on food manufacturers to work as quickly as possible to come into compliance with the updated nutrition label guidelines despite this delay.”
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