Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) today released a statement saying that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently proposed changes on product label of processed food sold in the US market.
The main intention is to educate society on the latest scientific information, including the link between diet and chronic diseases such as obesity and heart disease. The proposed label also would replace out-of-date serving sizes to better align with how much people really eat, and it would feature a fresh design to highlight key parts of the label such as calories and serving sizes.
To give more impact on the presentation, the font will be clearer and important nutrition information will be highlighted.
The changes that been proposed by FDA start with information about the amount of added sugars in a food product. Besides, companies need to update serving size requirements to reflect the ideal amounts that should be consume.
Companies also need to present dual column labels to indicate both per serving and per package calorie and nutrition information for larger packages.
By this effort, companies under FDA able to refresh the format to emphasize certain elements, such as calories, serving sizes and Percent Daily Value, which are important in addressing current public health problems like obesity and heart disease.
MATRADE states that correct nutritional labeling on the packaging is mandatory for all processed food & beverages sold in the USA.
Therefore, Malaysian companies that currently exporting or plan to export to the USA in the near future need to fully understand and prepare to make necessary changes on their product labels to suit the requirement.
Based on the proposed time frame, the regulation will be effective 60 days after the date of official announcement by the US FDA.
The compliance period will be 2 years after the effective date, so that all companies will have ample time to change the labeling for their products while balancing the need for consumers to have the information in a timely manner.
