Food Labeling: Toward National Uniformity

The Nutrition Labelling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA) changed the existing regulatory framework for food labelling requirements that was shared among federal, state, and local levels of government. In addition to creating a system of mandatory nutrition labelling for foods, NLEA provided a schedule for the pre-emption of state and local labelling requirements that were not identical to federal provisions. Six provisions were not to be pre-empted until a study on the adequacy of the federal implementation of those provisions was completed. Food Labelling is the result of that study. It presents recommendations concerning the Food and Drug Administration’s implementation of the six provisions that were studied, suggestions for the future disposition of relevant state and local food labelling requirements, and views on the continuing importance of the working relationship among the various levels of government in assuring that consumers are protected from misleading label information.