WASHINGTON — Clarifying serving sizes and moving the location of calorie information to the main body of the Nutrition Facts panel are among the ways to improve consumer use of information on food labels, according to initial findings of new study from the International Food Information Council Foundation.
Among other suggested changes for the better: the mention of a government body, like the Food and Drug Administration, in a higher-visibility area of the Nutrition Facts panel to increase trust of information provided, particularly when it comes to serving size.
"It appears there could be some simple changes that could help consumers use information on NFP a little better," Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, IFIC's director of health and wellness, said in a Webinar yesterday.
The information printed on food labels is important at a time when 61% of American adults say the food label is their main source for food and health information. Consumers look at the NFP moreso if the product is a new item, to compare items with similar price points, and if the product was requested by an adult with a health concern.
When looking at the Nutrition Facts panel, most do so to gauge the number of calories (75%), and amount of total fat (69%), sugars (61%) and trans fat (57%). The full report will be available in the fall.
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