On Friday, May 20, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced its final revisions to the labeling requirements for conventional foods and dietary supplements. According to the FDA, the revisions are necessary to help consumers make informed choices about the food they purchase and consume.

Among the changes to the nutrition facts label, which applies to packaged foods except certain meat, poultry and processed egg products, are: an updated design;  increases in certain font sizes (primarily to highlight the prominence of "calories" and "servings"); revisions of "serving sizes" to more closely reflect the amounts of food that people actually eat per sitting; a declaration of grams and a percent daily value for "added sugars;" a dual column design to indicate both "per serving" and "per package" caloric and other nutrition information for certain multi-serving food products; and a declaration of vitamin D and potassium that includes both the actual gram amount in addition to the percent daily value amount. The content of vitamins A and C, a feature on existing nutrition facts labels, will no longer be required on the new nutrition facts label.

Additionally, for containers of foods between one and two servings, such as a 20-ounce soft drink, the caloric intake amount and display of other nutrients will be required to be stated as one serving because people typically consume it in one sitting. "Calories from Fat" will also be removed because, according to the FDA, the type of fat is more important than the amount. "Total Fat," "Saturated Fat" and "Trans Fat" will continue to be required on the new nutrition facts label.

The FDA announced it is also making changes to the supplement facts label found on dietary supplements in order to make dietary supplement labeling consistent with the revisions to the nutrition facts label for conventional foods.

Manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales will be required to use the new nutrition facts label by July 26, 2018. Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales will have until July 26, 2019, to comply.

To read the FDA's press release, click here.