What Exactly Are You Eating?

Congress has finally acted to provide consumers with consistent, clear and accurate information about the foods they buy. A new labeling bill, supported by the food industry, calls on the Food and Drug Administration to set standards for health claims made about foods, define such ambiguous terms as “low fat,” and require fuller information about such things as fat and fiber content. The health benefits could be considerable.

Right now, food labeling practices can produce as much confusion as enlightenment. A product honestly touted as containing “no cholesterol” may sound healthy, but if it’s loaded with non-animal saturated fat then it decidedly is not. What exactly does “light” or “all natural” or “high fiber” really mean? And how many calories are there in 14 grams of fat?

It has been 17 years since nutritional labeling standards were last significantly revised. Since then much new information has been developed about the relation between diet and disease, especially cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers. That information is increasingly and eagerly being absorbed by a concerned public. A good part of the food industry, including now a growing number of fast- food chains, has responded by voluntarily providing nutrition information for different products. The problem is that labeling has been neither comprehensive nor rational. This welcome new legislation could end what Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Louis W. Sullivan has accurately described as a Tower of Babel in the grocery store.