FOR YOUR INFORMATION...........................FEBRUARY 25, 1992

                   FTC STAFF PROVIDES FDA, USDA
            WITH COMMENTS ON FOOD LABEL REFORM MEASURES

     Staff members of the Federal Trade Commission provided the
Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
with separate but similar comments on food label reform proposals
today.

     The FTC staff offered recommendations in response to requests
for comments from the FDA and USDA concerning rules they have pro-
posed.  The FDA's proposed rules would implement the Nutrition
Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA), which governs the nutri-
tional labeling of food products.  The USDA's proposed rules would
govern nutritional labeling of meat and poultry products and would
parallel, to the extent possible, the FDA proposals.  Both sets of
proposals were published in the Federal Register on Nov. 27, 1991.

     One premise of the FTC staff comments is that consumers can
improve their diets either by switching to the healthiest foods
available or by switching to more nutritious versions of the foods
they are currently eating.  Another premise is that truthful nutri-
ent claims on the front label may help alert consumers to more
healthful products.  The FTC staff comment examines how the regula-
tions will help consumers looking to improve their diets in either
way to find better products, and how this could affect innovation
in food markets.

     Much of what the FDA and USDA have proposed would provide
valuable nutrition information to consumers, the FTC staff said. 
The staff added, however, that the proposed regulations also may
have some unintended, undesirable effects.  According to the
comments, the regulations would eliminate many factual claims that
could help consumers make better food choices and increase produ-
cers' incentives to improve the nutritional composition of their
products.

     For example, the proposed regulations would prohibit truthful,
quantitative claims about nutrient content (for example, "100

                             - more -
FDA/USDA Food Labeling--02/25/92)

calories per serving"), as well as brand-to-brand comparisons (for
example, "Our cola has 25 percent fewer calories than Coke or
Pepsi").  In addition, the FTC staff noted, many foods that can
improve diets, including foods that dietary authorities recommend
to consumers, could not meet the requirements for health claims,
and thus, labels for these products could not explain the health
reasons for considering them.  The FTC staff suggested that the FDA
reconsider these aspects of the proposed regulations, and offered
some suggestions to the FDA and USDA to enhance the effectiveness
of the proposals.

     These comments represent the views of staff members of the
FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection and Bureau of Economics, and
are not necessarily the views of the Commission or of any
individual Commissioner.

     Copies of both sets of comments are available from the FTC's
Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania
Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY 202-326-
2502.

                               # # #

MEDIA CONTACT:      Bonnie Jansen, Office of Public Affairs
                    202-326-2161

STAFF CONTACT:      Anne Maher, Bureau of Consumer Protection
                    202-326-2987

(V920001 and V920008)
(FDAFOOD)