The Perfect Formula prevent cancer. Similar actions by other companies followed. Mul-
tiple states initiated lawsuits. At the federal level, divisions were widen-
ing across regulatory agencies over permissible information on labels,
advertising, and enforcement. To find a solution, consumer advocates,
food manufacturers, and oversight agencies agreed to uniform labeling.
While agreeing to uniform labels seemed logical, its execution
was not. Health and nutrition professionals wanted more disclosure,
while food manufacturers maneuvered for less. Both claimed that their
positions were in the best interests of consumers. Battles were fought
over which foods, ingredients, and nutrients would be included or
excluded. What constituted serving size, percent of daily value, total
daily calories, label format, and contents were hotly debated—not only
among industry and scientists but also FDA and USDA.
As the process dragged on, testing different label formats and designs
on consumers provided more opportunities for political posturing and
further delays in implementation. Each side angled for policy provisions
that supported their interests. Restaurants and small food manufacturers
fought for exemptions, citing high costs of compliance. Knowing that
adding health descriptors like “light,” “lean,” “extra lean,” “enriched,”
“low fat,” or “fortified” sold more products, food manufacturers fought
for more lenient baselines; advertising food as “low fat” based on 0
percent less fat versus 50 percent sold more products. Food manufactur-
ers also lobbied hard to include broad claims such as “improves health.”
In the absence of an established scientific link between their products
and particular health advantages, a vague association would suffice to
grow profits.
Despite the setbacks, uniform labeling was finally implemented,
arguably the high-water mark in nutrition awareness. More than
three decades and several revisions later, consumers should be able to
walk into a grocery store feeling confident in their ability to interpret
what manufacturers have printed on the labels. But can we? Or does
obfuscation still reign in the name of transparency?
Food and ingredient manufacturers love to use natural, a word so
phonetically close to nature that whatever they are selling just has to be
healthier and more wholesome. But words can mislead, and natural is
near the front of the pack. In the context of food, FDA is mostly hands-
off but considers natural to imply an absence of artificial or synthetic