U. S. Food and Drug Administration
FDA Consumer
September 1994

FTC Models Advertising Policy
On FDA Food Labeling Standards

To prevent deceptive or misleading claims, food advertising will now be held to the same standards as food labeling, the Federal Trade Commission has announced. In a 28-page enforcement policy slatement issued last May (1994), FTC said it generally will look to standards set by the Food and Drug Administration's food labeling regulations to evaluate whether nutrient and health claims in advertising are deceptive. The goal, FTC said, is to ensure that food advertising messages are consistent with those on food labels. Among the FDA standards FTC said it is adopting are:

• definitions for terms such as "low," "high" and "lean" to describe the amount of nutrients (such as fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and fiber) when they are used in the same context in advertising.

• definitions for unqualified comparative claims, such as "less", "reduced" and "more," including the minimum percentage differences

• the requirement for "significant scientific agreement" in determining whether there is adequate substantiation for an unqualified health claim in advertising

• limits for total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium in making a health claim.