To modernize the long overdue definition of “healthy” for packaged foods, the Food and Drug Administration proposed an update to the terminology that has been relatively static since 1994. Jeni Lamb Rogers, supply chain associate general counsel at Branded and Colorado State committee member at the USDA Farm Service Agency, illustrated the terms of the new definition and what it could mean for specialty food makers during the recent SFA Regulatory Update Webinar titled, “New Proposed Definition for Healthy.”
“For many years the use of the term has been a roll of the dice at best,” Rogers said. “This is a much more rigorous definition of healthy than we are used to, and it will take some time to get used to it.”
Before speaking about the proposed definition, Rogers explained what “healthy” means to the FDA. To be considered healthy today, a product must:
• Be low fat, with 3g or less per serving according to the reference amount customarily consumed
• Be low in saturated fat, with 1g or less per serving and with less than 15 percent of calories in the product serving made up this fat type
• Be low cholesterol, with 60mg or less per serving
• Add something to the diet, with at least 10 percent of the daily value of certain vitamins and minerals
Under the current definition, a healthy claim can be made about a product as a brand ethos, unrelated to a nutrition assertion. So even if a product was not “healthy” per the definition, they can still include the word in certain circumstances.
Rogers explained that this definition fails consumers in many ways because it creates the potential for brands to “manufacture your way into a healthy food definition” despite not truly being healthy, and because it does not have any regulation on sugar amounts and intake.
The proposed definition seeks to address these issues by abandoning the minimum nutrition content thresholds approach that would incentivize artificially fortifying products, replacing it with a combined standard that categorizes all foods into the following categories with different specifications: individual foods, mixed foods, main dish, meal products, and oil products.
“The idea is that individuals need to meet food group needs at every life stage by consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages from different food groups,” Rogers explained.
In the simplest terms, the new definition would now mandate that certain raw, whole foods are automatically considered “healthy,” and each food category must abide to a threshold quantity of food group equivalents from at least one of the food groups or subgroups from the dietary guidelines in addition to abiding by specific set limits for saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars that vary by food type.
The new definition would also include every form of the word, like “health,” “healthful,” and “healthiest.” In order to claim one of these words on a label, the product would have to meet the new definition. Specialty food makers are encouraged to voice their opinions through December 28, 2022.
To learn more about how the proposed changes may impact your specialty food business, watch the webinar on demand in SFA's Learning Center.
Related: Proposed Revisions for Organic Standards for Livestock, Poultry May Affect Specialty Food Makers; FDA Proposes Updated 'Healthy' Claim Definition