FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Libby Mikesell (202/639-5919)
or Tim Willard
(202/637-8060)
July 26, 2001
NFPA Urges Food
Labeling Focus on Health and
Safety
(Washington,
D.C.) – In response to announcement by the Center for Science in the
Public Interest of its intention to file a petition with the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) calling for additional food ingredient labeling
requirements, Rhona Applebaum, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of
Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for the National Food Processors
Association, made the following statement:
“FDA already requires that food labels provide
the health, nutrition and safety information needed for consumers to make
informed choices. Moreover, FDA has ample existing authority to take
enforcement action against misleading label claims.
“The product names, pictures and flavor
descriptors on packaging are there to attract the consumer’s attention and
to describe the product and its characterizing flavor or taste. Year
after year, consumer surveys show taste is the number one factor
for consumer food choices. To find out about product contents,
consumers should turn to the ingredient declaration and the Nutrition
Facts panel, which contain all the information they need to make an
informed decision.
“Mandatory information on food labels should be limited to that which
is needed for health and safety purposes. The new requirements
sought by CSPI – including percentage ingredient labeling – do not fit
that description.
“U.S. labeling rules already provide for voluntary declaration of
percentage of ingredients. However, mandatory percentage ingredient
labeling can prove difficult and costly. It limits food processors’
flexibility to source different grades and varieties of ingredients by
locking the company into exact quantities declared on the label.
Limiting a company’s flexibility in sourcing ingredients can increase the
cost to produce food.
“Consumers look to food labels for important
health and safety information concerning nutrition, food allergy and safe
food handling for certain products. We think these health and safety
issues are the appropriate focus for food labeling.”
###
NFPA is the voice of the $460 billion food processing
industry on scientific and public policy issues involving food safety,
nutrition, technical and regulatory matters and consumer affairs.