FDA Issues an Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making to Revise the Reference Values and Mandatory Nutrients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register, Docket No. 2006N-0168, titled "Food Labeling: Revision of Reference Values and Mandatory Nutrients." The ANPRM requests comment on what new reference values the agency should use to calculate the percent daily value (DV) in the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels and what factors the agency should consider in establishing such new reference values. In addition, FDA requests comments on whether it should require that certain nutrients be added or removed from the Nutrition Facts and Supplemental Facts labels.

On November 8, 1990, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) of 1990 was signed into law amending the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act). In response to the NLEA, FDA, in 1993, issued several rules to modify how nutrition information is presented on food labels. When the agency issued those rules to modify the nutrition label information, it considered the diet and health information that was current at that time. New information has since become available on nutrient values that the agency believes may impact what nutrients it should consider requiring to be listed on the food label and what nutrient values it should use as a basis for the DVs on the food label

. Interested persons can submit written or electronic comments by January 31, 2008 as per the instructions provided in Docket No. 2006N-0168. 72 FR 62149.