Within the next eight years, grocery store shelves could look a little more informative.
The Joe Biden administration is looking to move nutritional labels from the back of the box to the front to better educate residents of what they’re putting into their bodies.
A 44-page bid was issued with the proposal, explaining how the main goal is to ease the obesity issue in the country by presenting the facts about snacking straight up in front. It also suggests a review of details manufacturers should share and states that “healthy” claims on packaging would now have to have solid nutritional criteria to back up the statements.
As nutrition labels can sometimes be hard to decipher, the administration is looking to make them more digestible with a “traffic light system” that will alert shoppers to what is good for them and what is not.
Just like a traffic light, green gives the go-ahead (for healthier foods), yellow says to slow down (symbolizing moderately-healthy products), and red says to pause (unhealthy).
While this would leave brands scrambling to overhaul their packaging, having a society equipped with the knowledge to make the right snacking decisions could save many lives in the long run.
The plan was presented just ahead of a conference to discuss the hunger crisis in the US. A seminar of this ilk has not been held since 1969, the likes of which brought about the introduction of food stamps.
The scheme would also include medically-tailored meals and a nutrition assistance program to spread the word about eating healthily.
Unfortunately, changes such as these could take years before they hit grocery store shelves nationwide. Until then, more research is being done on the proposal before new concrete guidelines are presented.
[via The Dieline and NPR, Photo 22025463 © Flynt | Dreamstime.com]
http://www.designtaxi.com/news/420601/Food-Packaging-To-Move-Nutrition-Labels-To-Forefront-Under-Proposed-US-Law/
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