New US food labels reflect modern serving sizes and added sugar

Packaged foods in the US will soon bear new, easier to read nutrition labels that will reflect more closely the average serving sizes Americans eat and provide information about the amount of sugars that are added to processed foods, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced 20 May.1 The revisions are the first significant changes to US food labels in more than 20 years.

The new labels look similar to the old ones but the type size of “calories,” “servings per container,” and the “serving size” declaration will be larger and the number of calories and serving sizes will be in bold.

The label’s footnote explaining the meaning of percent daily value will be simplified from the current wording of “percent daily values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs” to “the % daily value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving …