U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
formalized the new compliance deadline to update the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels as January 1, 2020 for large manufacturers (and January 1, 2021 for small manufacturers). On that date, all labels must be applied to retail food and dietary supplement packages with the most recent regulatory updates for nutrition values and formats. The original compliance date was July 26, 2018 (or 2019) which was two years after the regulations were announced on May 26, 2016. [Hence the confusion whether the “new” regulations are 2016 or 2018 “versions”!] The extension had been mentioned by FDA but not formalized until now. “Large” manufacturers is set by FDA as those with $10 million or more in annual (global) food sales while “small” manufacturers means those with less than $10 million in annual food (global) sales. The agency published a proposed rule
The approximately 18-month extension is to help companies gather more information and to provide sufficient time to also add the required label disclosure of genetically engineered content announced today by the USDA. The transition will take many person-hours to adapt to the new reference serving sizes, document added sugar content, reformulate if manufacturers want to keep fiber claims, and a host of other formatting changes that the software databases have not accommodated.
The FDA is also committed to ensuring that all manufacturers have guidance to help implement the required label changes by the upcoming compliance dates. A full list of Nutrition Facts-related guidance documents is available on the FDA website.
For Additional Information:
Final Rule: Food Labeling: Revision of the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels and Serving Sizes of Foods That Can Reasonably Be Consumed At One Eating Occasion; Dual-Column Labeling; Updating, Modifying, and Establishing Certain Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed; Serving Size for Breath Mints; and Technical Amendments; Extension of Compliance DatesFinal Rule: Revision of the Nutrition and Supplement Facts LabelsFinal Rule: Serving Sizes of Foods That Can Reasonably Be Consumed At One Eating Occasion; Dual-Column Labeling; Updating, Modifying, and Establishing Certain Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed; Serving Size for Breath Mints; and Technical AmendmentsChanges to the Nutrition Facts Label