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Proposed serving size updates would spur reformulation: Speaker

Proposed serving size updates would spur reformulation: Speaker

The updated serving size requirements proposed by the FDA as part of its changes to the Nutrition Facts Panel would drive beverage makers to reformulate products for health, predicted Justin Prochnow, an attorney with Greenberg Traurig who specializes in food and beverage-related regulatory issues, at Natural Products Expo East, Thursday.

The changes would be based on how people actually eat and drink today, rather than what they should be eating. For example, a 20-ounce bottle of soda, typically consumed in a single sitting, would be labeled as one serving rather than as more than one serving, according to FDA.

Under the proposal, the RACC (reference amount customarily consumed) for beverages would increase from 8 fluid ounces to 12 fluid ounces, and if a product is packaged and sold individually and contains up to 200% of the actual RACC, it would be considered a single-serving container and the contents labeled as such.

“I get a fair amount of companies now making decisions about 'should it be a multi-serving or single serving, we’d like to do it with just 8 ounces,' but when it’s up to 24 ounces for a single serving, they won’t have that luxury and that will affect the reformulation of products,” said Prochnow. They may say “’we can’t afford to have 460 calories on the label because no one will buy it.’”

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