Silver Spring, MD—FDA issueda final guidanceto help manufacturers of packaged foods comply with FDA’s updated Nutrition Facts labeling regulations, according to aconstituent update.The final guidance addresses serving sizes of foods, including single-serving foods and other foods that can reasonably be consumed at one eating occasion and require dual column labeling.

The final guidance provides questions and answers on topics related to: the definition of a single-serving container; reference amounts customarily consumed (RACC), which are used by companies to determine serving sizes; dual-column labeling, including formatting issues for products that have limited space for nutrition labeling; and miscellaneous issues, such as requirements relating to the labeling of chewing gum and to multi-unit retail food packages.
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Changes from the draft guidance include:
  • Providing additional background information in response to a question regarding RACCs for non-juice beverages for infants and young children (question B.9)
  • Modifying for clarity and question and response concerning whether the Nutrition Facts label for products sold in small packages must list all nutrients that are contained in insignificant amounts (question D.2)
  • Modifying the response to a question regarding the placement of the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts Labels to clarify that the label in question should not be placed on the bottom of packages unless they are visible during normal retail display and consumer handling (question D.4)
Compliance was required by January 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales, while manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales will have an additional year to comply. During the first six months following the January 1, 2020 compliance date, FDA will work cooperatively with manufacturers to meet the new requirements and will not focus on enforcement actions. FDA will exercise enforcement discretion for manufacturers of single-ingredient sugars such as honey and maple syrup, and certain cranberry products, to give them until July 1, 2021, to comply.