The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to introduce a traffic light labeling system for packaged foods, allowing consumers to more easily understand if products contain low, medium or high saturated fat, sugar and salt.
Citing the WHO having listed “unhealthy diet” as a leading risk factor for noncommunicable diseases, which cause roughly 75 percent of global deaths, the FDA said that, in a joint effort with the Health Promotion Administration (HPA), the traffic light labeling — to be introduced in the second half of this year — is aimed at allowing people to more intuitively identify food content and choose healthier food.
The HPA’s Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan showed that 63 percent of adults exceed the recommended daily limit of salt, and 17.3 percent of adults consume more than the recommended amount of sugar (less than 10 percent of total daily energy intake).
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
“International studies show that using interpretive nutrition labels on the front of food packaging allows consumers to grasp nutritional facts more easily and encourages them to make healthier selections,” the FDA said.
FDA Food Safety Division head Hsu Chao-kai (許朝凱) said the idea of introducing the traffic light labelling was brought up by former Taiwan Dietitian Association president Kuo Su-e (郭素娥) at a Healthy Taiwan National Forum in April last year, and it was supported by President William Lai (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰).
Hsu said current food product labeling can be difficult for some consumers to immediately understand, so the FDA and HPA have gathered local and international empirical data and referenced policies in other countries to improve the issue.
After convening several specialist meetings with experts of medicine, nutrition, food science and other relevant fields, a consensus on the design of the new traffic light labeling has been reached, he said.
The draft guideline shows that the front-of-pack nutrition labeling would be based on a standard of per 100g for solids or per 100ml for liquids, and feature a “red-yellow-green” traffic light-color grading system specifically for three nutrients — sugar, sodium and saturated fat.
Food products might be labeled as “green” when their sugar, sodium and saturated fat content falls below the following thresholds: 5g of sugar, 120mg of sodium and 1.5g of saturated fat for solid foods (per 100g); 2.5g of sugar, 120mg of sodium and 0.75g of saturated fat for liquid foods (per 100ml).
They might be labeled as “red” if their content is above the following thresholds: 15g of sugar, 500mg of sodium and 4.5g of saturated fat for solid foods; and 7.5g of sugar, 250mg of sodium and 2.25g of saturated fat for liquid foods.
If the food products’ sugar, sodium and saturated fat are between the two thresholds, they can be labeled as “yellow.”
Hsu said food manufacturers can voluntarily follow the drafted guidelines to print the traffic light labeling on their products, adding that, after a period of policy guidance, the system is scheduled to be formally adopted in the second half of the year.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS