FDA announces new criteria for what foods can be considered healthy

The goal is to make it easier for people to determine if the products they are purchasing are healthy or not.

Rose Shannon and Gillian Neff

Dec 21, 2024, 3:32 PM

Updated 10 hr ago

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For the first time in 30 years, the Food and Drug Administration has made changes to how foods are labeled.
The goal is to make it easier for people to determine if the products they are purchasing are healthy or not.
Earlier this week, the FDA announced that in order for foods to be labeled as healthy, they need to contain a certain amount of food from one food group or subgroup, such as fruit, vegetables, grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy and protein.
The agency says healthy foods must also meet the required limits on saturated fat, sodium and added sugars.
The new labeling means that white bread and heavily sweetened yogurt would no longer be considered healthy.
Foods that meet the new definition of healthy include fresh produce, fish, olive oil, nuts and seeds.
The healthy label will be on these foods and others starting next year.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest says while the new rules are a step in the right direction, they would like to see labels that identify foods that are high in sodium, added sugars, and saturated fat.