Any food labeled "healthy" will have to meet a new government definition of the term starting Monday.
Most foods sold in the United States will have to bear new food labels mandated by the Food and Drug Administration. The labels will tell exactly how much fat, cholesterol, calories and vitamins are in each serving - without requiring consumers to pull out a calculator and figure it out themselves.Along with the ingredient label, the new regulations make food companies abide by more strict rules when describing their products. Anything called "low fat" must have no more than 3 grams of fat per serving, for example.
Wednesday, the FDA issued its long-awaited rule on what foods may be labeled "healthy." Those foods must:
- Be low in fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium.
- Contain at least 10 percent of the recommended daily allowance of either Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, protein or fiber.
The rules vary slightly according to the food.