BUREAUCRACY WATCH : Food Fight

The White House should move quickly to end a long and unproductive dispute between the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. On the question of nationwide revision of food labels, there should be no contest: The needs of American consumers take clear precedence over the bottom line for food manufacturers.

Congress mandated the FDA to undertake the first significant revisions in food labeling in the last half-century. FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler began last year by ordering several companies to drop such misleading claims as “fresh” and “cholesterol free” from product labels. The agency has since issued draft regulations mandating that the term light apply only to foods low in both calories and fat. However, the Agriculture Department, heeding complaints from meat and poultry producers, has stalled final agreement on these rules, arguing that products low in sodium but not necessarily in fat should be labeled “light” as well.

The two agencies are also deadlocked over the format of the new nutrition information panel on food labels; the FDA wants to present each nutrient in the context of daily nutritional requirements while Agriculture opposes this approach as too complicated and misleading for consumers.

Consumers are increasingly aware of the connections that scientists have confirmed between diet and a number of diseases. That awareness, along with the FDA’s common-sense guidelines, would lead Americans to healthier eating habits. That result is in everyone’s best interests.