CHICAGO — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans updates on sodium reduction targets, the “healthy” claim for food product labels and front-of-pack nutrition information later this year, said James Jones, FDA deputy commissioner of human foods, at IFT FIRST in Chicago.

“Nutrition is really a very big priority for us,” Jones said in a July 16 morning keynote at the event. “This is an area where I think some of the things that we are doing will lead the people like yourselves – innovators – to innovate in a way that allows your company or your customers to meet the framework that we’re creating. So, we have a number of activities ongoing in the nutrition space.”

In October 2021, the FDA unveiled voluntary 2.5-year goals to reduce sodium in commercially processed, packaged and prepared foods to reduce excess sodium intake by consumers. The overall target is for an approximately 12% reduction across 164 categories of packaged food, and through the end of April 2024, the results look promising, according to Jones.

“We've got data from the first year and a half of the goal, and the data is pretty encouraging,” he said. “We are seeing significant progress towards meeting this goal. This is a voluntary goal. As a regulator, I’m very suspicious of voluntary efforts, but when a voluntary effort works, I'm all in. So we are going to be issuing a second goal of a similar reduction in the not too distant future.”

A paper on the new sodium reduction target is currently being reviewed by the office of management and budget, and the effort stands to be “the first of our major nutrition activities that will hit the street,” likely later this summer or early fall, Jones said.

“I am very hopeful that some of the very smart people in the room here will help either your company or your customers achieve these goals,” he told IFT FIRST attendees. “We have seen this work in other countries, where you've had these slow, gradual reductions in sodium. The consumer doesn't even know they're getting less sodium, which allows your company to manage it much more easily. Even though the reformulation challenge may be very big, the customer aspect of it doesn't become so difficult because your customer doesn't notice that the sodium in their diet is going down.

Also scheduled for release from the FDA in the early fall is an updated definition of “what’s eligible for the term “healthy” on packaged food labels, Jones said, noting the new rule will “align much more closely to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which has evolved significantly since the first definition was released 30 years ago.”

The FDA in late September 2022 issued a proposed rule to update the definition of “healthy” as a voluntary nutrient content claim, set in 1994. The current definition specifies limits for total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, and qualifying foods also must provide at least 10% of the daily value for one or more of the nutrients vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, protein and fiber. In reporting earlier this year on the planned update, the FDA said the proposed changes to the “healthy” claim definition better reflect current nutrition science, federal dietary guidance (namely the 2020-25 Dietary Guidelines for Americans) and the updated Nutrition Facts label.

“We're then going to follow the definition with the development of a logo,” Jones said. “It's all voluntary. If you want to use the ‘healthy’ definition because you make foods that are eligible, you can but you don’t have to. One of the things we have lacked heretofore is there's really no easy way for a consumer to recognize what meets the criteria for ‘healthy’.”

The FDA had issued notices in May 2021 and March 2022 that it was conducting research on a symbol that the food industry can use to label food products that qualify for the proposed “healthy” definition. Such a mark may be “particularly helpful for those with lower nutrition knowledge to identify foods that can be the foundation of a healthy eating pattern,” the agency explained.

“We're going to develop a logo that – if you choose to and your product is eligible – you will be able to use on your food,” Jones said. “So consumers will have an easier time recognizing a healthy food because they'll see a logo that will exist across categories and within categories. We're very excited about that.”

Later in the fall, the FDA expects to issue a proposed rule on front-of-pack (FOP) labeling for packaged foods, Jones said. The agency has been conducting consumer research, including focus groups in 2022 and 2023, to gather feedback on whether FOP labeling – in tandem with the required Nutrition Facts label – would provide shoppers with convenient “at-a-glance” nutrition information that adds more context in making food purchase decisions. In a note posted earlier this month, the FDA said the findings are under peer review.

“It will identify a number of nutrients – saturated fat, sugar, sodium – and bring some information to the front of the pack,” Jones said. “One of the things that I think all of us know is that consumers make most of their food purchasing decisions in a split second. It is not happening, for most consumers, by turning a (product) around and studying the label. The FDA label is on the back of the package, which is filled with all kinds of useful information. So by bringing some of this information to the front of the pack, you can help consumers make much more informed choices related to the products that they are buying.”