No wonder food labels are so hard to read

I’m fascinated by this story about how the FDA came to design the new version of the food label, soon to be seen on packages in a supermarket near you.

The article explains what the FDA was up against:

Nestlé [note: no relation] lobbied to skirt clarifying disclosures on packaging that ranges between 1.5 and 2 servings….

Fiji water complained that, given new label guidelines, the company would need to disclose the sodium in their water that they could formerly round down to zero.

Many rallied against the disclosure of added sugars, including those you’d suspect, like the International Council of Beverages Associations (which includes Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Red Bull), General Mills, Ocean Spray, the Sugar Association, and the Snack Food Association, along with those you might not, like the National Yogurt Association…Even Gerber argues that added sugars shouldn’t be given a percentage Daily Value, and should instead only be listed in grams (it’s worth remembering that Gerber is in fact owned by Nestlé).