New Look for Food Labels

Think the nutrition facts labels on some of your favorite foods look a little different? It's not your imagination.

On Jan. 1, two new federal rules -- one aimed at ingredients often linked to food allergies, the other at unhealthy fat that can significantly boost heart disease risk -- went into effect. Both are designed to help better inform you about what you may be eating without realizing it.

First, the foods linked to allergies. About 2 percent of adults and 5 percent of infants and children have food allergies, which can cause a spectrum of symptoms, from mild gastrointestinal distress to deadly anaphylactic shock. An estimated 30,000 people in the United States require emergency room treatment annually for food allergies and 150 die, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Eight major foods -- milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, nuts and peanuts, wheat and soybeans -- "account for 90 percent of all documented food allergic reactions," says Robert E. Brackett, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

In 2004, Congress passed a law requiring food manufacturers to label any ingredients derived from these eight allergens in clear language that makes their food source easily identifiable. So rather than simply listing casein, which most consumers don't recognize as being a milk protein, the new labels must now list it as milk casein.

"This means that people with food allergies won't have to go grocery shopping with a dictionary," says Anne Muoz-Furlong, founder of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, a nonprofit advocacy group. "We are thrilled."

Those concerned about heart disease risk can also expect some new assistance from labels in ferreting out trans fats. Dubbed the "stealth fat," because the FDA did not previously require manufacturers to list it, trans fat must now appear along with total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol on nutrition facts labels.

A number of food manufacturers, including many makers of chips, crackers and margarine, have already eliminated the trans fat from their products. But some experts worry that the saturated fats that are in some cases being used instead, such as coconut oil and palm oil, could also affect heart disease risk. "We should be getting rid of the trans fat as much as we can," says Fergus Clydesdale, head of the food science department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Committee that urged Americans to eat as little trans fat as possible. "But saturated fats have not changed. They're problematic, too. And neither has cholesterol or calories."

Others, however, say that the trade-off is worth it to help reduce heart disease risk. "Considering that nothing is as bad as trans fat, even switching to butter or palm oil is better," says Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has pushed the FDA since 1993 to label trans fats in foods.

Here's what you need to know about the new labels:

Count on a transition period . Food that is already in the pipeline doesn't have to be relabeled by either manufacturers or retailers. That means it could take up to 18 months for these products to move through the market. "The stage we are entering could be the most confusing," says Muoz-Furlong. "We've already had reports that some people have seen the same products with two different ingredient labels."

Zero doesn't equal none. Products can list zero trans fat on their labels if they contain 0.5 grams or less per serving. How to know if there's trans fat in a product? One tip-off is if the ingredients label includes partially hydrogenated fats, which is trans fat. But even then it will be impossible to know whether there are trace amounts of partially hydrogenated fat or up to 0.5 grams per serving. "Only in Washington does zero not necessarily equal zero," says Jacobson, who notes that eating a lot of food with less than half a gram of trans fat "could easily add up."

Keep your eye on other unhealthy fats, too. Trans fat is a major culprit in heart disease, but saturated fat and dietary cholesterol also increase risk. "Consumers need to look at all three of those to help lower their risk of cardiovascular disease," says Barbara Schneeman, director of the FDA's Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling and Dietary Supplements. Expect to see such saturated fats as coconut, palm and other tropical oils replace some of the trans fats. Butter and hydrogenated fats are likely to also be replacements. All are rich in saturated fat. Current recommendations are to limit that type of fat to 10 percent of total calories in healthy people, 7 percent in those with heart disease or diabetes.

Choose wisely when dining out. Americans eat nearly a third of their meals at restaurants and fast food establishments, which are exempt from the new rules. Expect most fried food to contain hefty amounts of trans fat, Jacobson says. As for food allergies, Muoz-Furlong warns that "fried foods, desserts and sauces" usually pose the biggest risk.

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