Abeling and Education Act of 1969
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 324 317 SP 032 685 TITLE Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1969. Hearing before the Committee on Labor and Human Resources. United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, First Session. INSTITUTION Congress of the U.S., Washington, D.C. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. REPORT NO Senate-Hrg-101-488 PUB DATE 13 Nov 89 NOTE 218p. PUB TYPE Legal/Legislative/Regulatory Materials (090) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Consumer Education; *Consumer Protection; *Federal Legislation; *Health Promotion; Hearings; *Merchandise Information; *Nutrition IDENTIFIERS Congress 101st ABSTRACT This hearing on the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1989, S. 1425. which requires mandatory nutrition labels on all food products regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, covered specific details on labeling procedures which will enable consumers to make intelligent choices on food selection. Prepared statements are included from associations representing health-related concerns, e.g., the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association. Statements are also included from food industry representatives, e.g., Grocery Manufacturers of America and the Milk Industry Foundation. Additional supporting materials include articles, publications, and letters. (JD) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. * *********A************************************************************Y , S Hui. 101-488 NUTRITION LABELING AND EDUCATION ACT OF 1989 HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON r4 LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIRST CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON S. 1425 ENTITLED TUE "NUTRITION LABELING AND EDUCATION ACT OF 1989" NOVEMBER 13, 1989 Printed for the use of the Committee on Labor and Iluman Resources U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Educat,),Ial Respatch 500 Impfoyement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER {ERIC) Th,s tlocurne) has been ,ebrOduCeri as ,eceFved on, the LlerSon Or Organrzabon 0,Qnat/nL) I %nor hanges have been maos to rpro,, IeVIOduCtIon POols Of v,e. blbhrOh, stated In Itusapco ',en! dl, not neressably ,entesent &how 01 0 oosbon or pow y U S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1:1191 , WASHINGTON : 1990 For %ale by the Superintendent of Documents. Congressiomil Sales Office IT S GcvernmentPrinting (Vice.Washington, DC 20192 COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts, Chairman CLAIBORNE PELL, Rhode Island ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah HOWARD M. METZENBAUM, Ohio NANCY LANDON KASSEBAUM, Kansas SPARK M. MATSUNAGA, Hawaii JIM JEFFORDS, Vermont CHRISTOPHER J DODD, Connecticut DAN COATS, Indiana PAUL SIMON, Illinois STROM THURMOND, South Carolina TOM HARKIN, Iowa DAVE DURENBERGER, Minnesota RROCK ADAMS, Washington MAD COCHRAN, Mississippi bARBARA A MIKUISKI, Maryland NICK Lrrrurtra.D, Staff Dwector and Chief Counsel Kiusrins A IIMRSON, Minority Staff Director 3 CONTENTS STATEMENTS MONDAY, NOVEMBER13, 1989 Young, Frank E. M.D, commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Page Public Health Service, Departmentof Health and Human Services, panied by Dr. Fred Shank, Center accom Joe Levitt, chief of staff; Margaretfor Food Safety and Applied Nutrition; Jane Porter, general counsel, andAlex Grant, associate commissioner forConsumer Affairs Mr. Young, prepared statement 15 Nixon, Dr. Daniel W. Nixon, vice 49 president for Professional Education,Ameri- can Cancer Society; Nancy Chapman, vicechairman for the board of direc- tors, Nation's Capitalaffiliate, American Heart Jochum, Nebraska State Coordinator, Association; Corinne son% Ellen Haas, executive director, AmericanPublic Association of RetiredPer- Policy; Bruce A. Silverglade, director Voice for Food and Health of legal affairs, Center forScience in the Public Interest. and Dr.Nancy Wellman, president, Association..... ...... American Dietetic Prepared statements of: . .......... 64 Mr Nixon Ms. Jochum............ titi Ms Haas 78 90 Mr Silverglade.... ...... .... Dr. Wellman . 99 . ......... ........ ... Tipton, E. Linwood, president, MilkIndustry Foundation and International 106 Ice Cream Association, John R Cady, president, National FoodProcessors Association; Sherwin Gardner, vicepresident for Science and Technology, Grocery Manufacturers of America, and Bowles and Radzius George Burditt, attorney, Burditt, Prepared statements of: ....... 120 Mr. Tipton . Mr. Cady... 122 Mr. Gardner. 137 144 Mr. Burditt (with an attachment).... American Academy of Pediatrics, prepared ... 150 The Snack Food Association (SFA). statement . 165 prepared statement 166 ADDITIONAL MATFRIALS Articles, publications, letters, etc. 3 Summary Report from the Food andDrug Administration Dated October 16, 1989 ..... ... Dated November 1, 1989 ... 25 Center for Science in the Public Interest, ... ...... ... 32 ing Chaos: The Case for Reform a report entithA "Food Label- Communications to Commissioner Young. ..... 174 From Mr Card2nas, an elderly man in San Antonio ... 40 Memo from S. Jay Plager, administrator.Office of Information Regu- latory Affairs . ....... .... .. 42 4,, NUTRITION LABELING ANDEDUCATION ACT OF 1989 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1949 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMANRESOURCES, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuantto notice, at 9:37 a.m., inroom SD- 430, Dirksen Senate Office Building,Senator Howard M. Metz- enbaum, presiding. Pi esent. Senators Metzenbaum andHatch. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR METZENBAUM Senator METZENBAUM. The committee willcome to order. We are here this morning to considerlegis:ation which is long overdue. S. 1425, the Nutrition Labelingand Education Act, will take the food label out of the 1960's andput it into the 1990's. This bill will provideconsumers with the information that they need to make choices about their dietand their health, because when it comes to nutrition, whatyou don't know can hurt you. Consumers are fed up with food labels thatare at best confusing and at worst downright deceptive. Theyare tired of being taken in by bait and switch claims that misleadand misihform. Consumers aren't asking for much, andI bE aeve this billpro- vides the answers to the questionsthey are aslong every day. The basic questions, plain and simple,are: What are we getting? How many calories? How much fat? What kind of fat? Howmuch salt and sugar? How much cholesterol 'Andprotein and vitamins and fiber? These are fair questions. They deservestraightrward answers. Unfortunately, much of whatwe are ptting is marketing hype. Our supermarket shelves are pricticallyscreaming at us: "Light", "lean", "less", "lower", "higher", "fewer","no fat", "no salt", "no cholesterol", or "high fiber". Too often, Iam afraid, we are only getting part of the story. Weare told what they want us to know, but not what we need to know. Since Chairman Henry Waxman and Iintroduced our joint legis- lation earlier this year, a good deal ofaction has occurred on this issue. The Food and Drug Administrationhas begun to hold public hearings on nutrition labeling, and I commendthem for that. Con- gressman Waxman has reported an amended billout of his sub- committee. iviy good friend from Utahhas introduced his ownnu- trition labeling bill, which I have carefullyreviewed, but after (1) 5 2 weeks of tortured decisionmaking and soul-searching, I have con- that T. JilIT1 y bill better. Finally, I have di aftrAi a substitute amendment to S. 1425 which we have distributed here today. The substitute reflects some of the changes incorporated in the House bill as well as some adjustments which have resulted from continuing discussions with both indus- try and consumer groups. Before I to.i.n to the ranking minority member, whose timing is perfect, I want to compliment him on the fine work he has done this year on our committee. Senator Hatch has been the key to bi- partisan agreements Gn vitally important issues such as the Ameri- cans with Disabilities Act, the Act for Better Child Care, andthe FDA Revitalization Act. [The text of S. 1425 follows:] 3 101ST CONgRESS 1ST SESSION SS. 1425 Entitled the "Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1989" IN TILE SENATE OF Tlfr UNITED STATES JULY 27 (legislative day,JANUARY3), 1989 Mr. METZENBAUM (forhimself andMr. CHAFER)introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources A BILL Entitled the "Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1989". 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2lives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE, REFERENCE. 4 (a) SHORT T1TLE.This Act may be cited as the "Nu- 5trition Labeling and Education Act of 1989". 6 CO REFERENCE.Whenever in this Act an amendment 7 or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal 8 of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be consid- 9 ered to be made to a section or other provision of the Federal 10 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. d7 4 1 SEC. 2. NUTRITION LABELING. 2 (a)L \SUING REQUIREMENT.Sedion 403(21 3 U.S.C. 343) is amended by adding at the ead the following 4new paragraph: 5 "(q)(1) Except as provide( in pmagraphs (3) and (4), if it 6is intended for human consumption and is offered for sale, 7unless its label or labeling states 8 "(A)(ii) the serving size which is an amount cus- 9 tomarily consumed andwhich isexpressedina 10 common household measure that is appropriate to the 11 food, or 12 "(ii)ifthe 'Ise of the food isnot typically ex- 13 pressed in a serving size, the