Running Head: Food Labeling

Marcela Zacarias
Food Labeling
University of Texas at El Paso

Food Labeling

How many of us honestly go into the grocery store, and before choosing your
food, you look at the nutrition facts label? Not many of us, right? The purpose of this
research that your about to read will consist of the importance of knowing how to
understand/read food labels. Through this research you will be able to have a better
understanding of what food labeling really is and how food labeling started along with
how theyve been changing through the years. Also, Ill provide information on how to
better educate yourself to understand/read food labels.
Have you ever thought that labels on food didnt have much importance in your
choice of foods? Food labels do play an important role in the purchase decision-making
process. Although not a lot of people pay attention to food labels or they simply dont
know how to read them, they arent considering the benefits of knowing how to
understand/read and actually using them has to offer.
The first question you may ask yourselves is, what are food labels? According to
LaBarbera (2012), food labels provide information about the nutritional content inside a
package of food. Food labels are broken up into sections to make it easy for you to read
and understand the nutrition found on a particular food item (2012). The main objective
of food labeling is to inform consumers about product characteristics that play an
important role in the purchase decision-making process. Thus, nutrition-based food labels
have been implemented to educate consumers about healthy eating and enable them to
make healthy food choices (Higginson, 2002).
In the United States, there is a long history of nutrition regulation. According to
Weingarten (2008), in the early 13th century, the king of England proclaimed the first
food regulatory law, the Assize of Bread, which prohibited bakers from mixing ground

Food Labeling

peas and beans into bread dough. Ever since, it has been a cat and mouse game
between the food industry and the public (2008). In 1990, the Nutrition Labeling and
Education Act (NLEA) was passed by Congress (U.S. Food and Drug Administration,
n.d.). Weingarten (2008) stated that,
It requires all packaged foods to bear nutrition labeling and all health claims for
foods to be consistent with terms defined by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services. As a concession to food manufacturers, the FDA authorizes some health
claims for foods. The food ingredient panel, serving sizes, and terms such as low
fat and light are standardized(2008).
This is pretty much the nutrition label as we know it today. After one year, on 1991,
basic per-serving nutritional information (Weingarten, 2008) was required to have in
food labels under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990. Thus, many other
changes have been made to the food labels in our food. For example, in 2005, American
Heart Association initiates a food certification program including AHAs Heart Check
Symbol to appear on certain foods (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, n.d.). Criteria is
simple, low in saturated fat and cholesterol for healthy people over age 2. As stated by
Weingarten (2008), the 2002 Farm Bill requires retailers provide country-of-origin
(COOL) labeling for fresh beef, pork, and lamb. After repeated debilitation and
stakeholder pressures, the law would finally go into effect only 6 years later, on Oct 1,
2008, and even then with many loopholes (2008). As we can see, many changes have
been made throughout the years to make people acknowledge what were consuming. If
the government is doing all of this laws and regulations towards our food, what makes us
think that it is not important to know how to read/understand food labels. They were

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made for a reason, they are constantly changing for a reason, why not take advantage of
them?

It is important for society to know how to read food labels. However, what might
be slightly tougher for some people to understand are the food labels themselves. What
does it all mean? What should you be looking for? What are all of these nutrients? Which
ones should be high? Which should be low? Which should purposely be eaten, and which
should purposely be avoided altogether? If you've ever turned over your package of food
and asked any of these questions, you've found the right place. It's time to get the
answers. Fries (2014) states, at the very top of all food labels (right under the words
"Nutrition Facts") is the serving size. This is one of the most important pieces of
information on the label because all of the nutrition information shown is based on this
exact amount. Servings per container tells you how many of the above serving sizes are
found in the entire box/bag/can/jar/package/ whatever that your food came in. After the
serving size and the serving per container, the rest of the nutritious facts come into play.
Next up on a food label is calories. This represents the total calories in exactly 1 serving
of the food/drink. So, just remember to take the specific serving size you are eating into
account when figuring out all of nutrition facts on the food label. U.S Food and Drug
Administration (n.d.) states that after the calories, the nutrients that come right after it are
the ones that Americans generally eat in adequate amounts, or even too much (n.d.).
These nutrients include: total fat, saturated fat, Trans fat, cholesterol, and sodium.
According to the U.S. and Drug Administration (n.d.), these nutrients may increase your
risk of certain chronic diseases, like heart disease, some cancers, or high blood pressure

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(n.d.). Health experts recommend that you keep your intake of saturated fat, Trans fat and
cholesterol as low as possible as part of a nutritionally balanced diet. Most Americans
don't get enough dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and