P.M. BRIEFING : More Nutritional Labeling Urged

Virtually all packaged foods should have labels that explain their nutritional content, including meals served in fast food restaurants, a panel of experts recommended today.

The panel, going one step farther than recent government proposals, called for “mandatory and uniform nutrition labeling” for all packaged foods, as well as development of new federal regulations for labeling fresh produce, meat, fish and poultry, and restaurant meals, particularly those served by fast-food chains.

“If consumers are to make the dietary adjustments recommended by the health care community, they must be able to make informed judgments across the full spectrum of their daily shopping, cooking and eating decisions,” said the report from the Institute of Medicine, which is part of the National Academy of Sciences.