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July 11, 2003
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This week, DHHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced that food labels will be required to list the amount of unhealthy trans fatty acids, or trans fat, to give consumers better information when choosing their foods.
The new requirement through FDA will mean that manufacturers of most conventional foods and some dietary supplements will have to list in the Nutrition Facts panel the trans fat content of the product, in addition to the information about its overall fat content and saturated fat content.
The additional information will give consumers a more complete picture of fat content in foods-allowing them to choose foods low in trans fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol, all of which are associated with an increased risk of heart disease. Reducing the intake of trans fat and saturated fats is recommended by the Federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Under the new FDA regulations, by Jan. 1, 2006, consumers will be able to find trans fat listed on food nutrition labels directly under the line for saturated fat. The new information is the first significant change on the Nutrition Facts panel since it was established in 1993.
The new labeling reflects scientific evidence showing that consumption of trans fat, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol raises low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) levels that increase the risk of coronary heart disease. Nearly 13 million Americans suffer from coronary heart disease, and more than 500,000 die each year from causes related to coronary heart disease.
Trans fat occurs in foods when manufacturers use hydrogenation, a process in which hydrogen is added to vegetable oil in order to turn the oil into a more solid fat. Trans fat is often, but not always, found in the same foods as saturated fat, such as vegetable shortening, some margarines, crackers, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods, salad dressings (see also 68 FR41433, p. 41469 for corrected statement), and other processed foods.
Although some food products already list trans fat on the food label, food manufacturers have until Jan.1, 2006, to add it to the nutrition label. This phase-in period minimizes the need for multiple labeling changes and allows small businesses to use up current label inventories. The FDA will allow manufacturers to implement the change more quickly, and in fact expects many manufacturers to start listing trans fat content soon.
In addition, dietary supplement manufacturers will now need to list trans fat, as well as saturated fat and cholesterol, on the Supplement Facts panel when their products contain more than trace amounts (0.5 gram) of trans fat. Examples of dietary supplements that may contain trans fat are energy and nutrition bars.
The new requirements are included in final FDA regulations published today in the Federal Register. The complete regulation can be accessed at: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fr03711a.html
FDA today also is issuing an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking to solicit information and data that could lead to further changes in nutrition and product labels related to trans fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. The complete Federal Register notice can be read at: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fr03711b.html
Additional information about these announcements and broader efforts to improve health by providing information consumers can use to make healthy choices is available on FDA's Web site at http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/transfat/.
The nation today is facing a public health crisis called obesity. Experts estimate that nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight, increasing their risk of heart disease, diabetes and other serious health problems. One way to help improve this situation is to make nutritional information about foods available and understandable to American consumers. A major FDA initiative was announced in 2002 and addressed this need by making major improvements in the information consumers receive about the foods they eat.
As part of that initiative, FDA's Task Force on Consumer Health Information for Better Nutrition has unveiled a new process to provide more science-based, FDA-regulated information on product labels about the health consequences of foods and dietary supplements. Detailed in a July 10, 2003, report, this process will improve information on dietary health benefits for consumers and will encourage product manufacturers to compete based on scientifically demonstrated health benefits of their products.
The complete Task Force report, as well as other documents related to the report, can be found at FDA's Web site at: http://www.fda.gov/oc/mcclellan/chbn.html.
FDA is aware that various firms may be offering their services to assist domestic and/or foreign facilities to register with FDA. Please note that these firms are not affiliated with FDA, nor has the agency contracted with any firms to register facilities. While facilities must be registered with FDA by December 12, 2003, there is no duty to register now as we have not yet issued a final rule containing the registration requirements, nor has FDA issued a final registration form for facilities to use to register. As the proposed rule states, FDA will not accept registrations before we publish the final rule (expected October 10th). We have received favorable feedback from industry in response to our demonstrations of the prototype registration system and we anticipate that registration over the Internet will be a very straightforward process. There will be no registration fee.
In July, 25 middle school and 25 high schools teachers are coming to Washington, DC, to participate in the 4th FDA/National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Professional Development Program in Food Science. This weeklong [July 7-12 (middle school) and July 28-August 2 (high school)] program supports the use of the FDA/NSTA supplementary food safety and food science curriculum Science and Our Food Supply.
More than 150 teachers from 44 states applied for the program. Accepted participants are from 32 states including the states of Maine, Utah, Delaware, West Virginia, and Kentucky from which we previously had not had any teachers. This leaves only New Hampshire and the District of Columbia without a teacher participating. Efforts will be made to include teachers from those locations in the 2004 program. The teachers attending the workshops this summer are evenly distributed between rural (37 %), urban (33%), and suburban (30%) schools.
The workshop includes briefings on the global issues of food safety, food microbiology, epidemiology and outbreak investigations, resources available through the Foodborne Illness Education and Information Center at the National Agricultural Library, and (this year) special presentations on careers in food science and on acrylamide. The science teachers will see food science and food safety in action through tours of CFSAN laboratories, the laboratories at the USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, and a seafood processing plant in Baltimore, MD. The teachers will also spend 2 days at the University of Maryland, College Park, conducting experiments from Science and Our Food Supply and they will have an opportunity to practice the classroom activities as well.
The teachers who participate in the program will be required to conduct a daylong workshop for other teachers in their district or at statewide meetings. This requirement provides a multiplier-effect in the number of teachers reached with Science and Our Food Supply. To date, more than 20,000 copies of the curriculum have been requested.
