Changes may be coming to the familiar Nutrition Facts panel on food packages. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just completed a public-comment period on a proposed study to test labeling changes with a randomly selected group of 3,600 consumers. Insight into the agencys thinking comes from three official rulemaking notices, which addressed how to better emphasize calorie counts, changes in serving-size regulations and adding or subtracting nutrients from the Nutrition Facts list. Tweaking the calorie information, the FDA said, could involve using a larger type size for total calories, eliminating the calories from fat data, and adding percentage of daily calories figures. The planned public testing will get reactions to several design alternatives while assessing how well consumers can use the revised Nutrition Facts panel. (Look for more on possible Nutrition Facts changes in an upcoming Health – letter.)
