Blumenthal
HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make sure that it provides unbiased nutritional information as part of a potential adoption of a uniform labeling program.
Blumenthal's call for increased health in the food industry, which also includes encouraging food manufacturers to offer healthier products, comes at a time when the FDA has proposed the development of a national voluntary front-of-package food labeling program.
"Only full disclosure of nutrition information will provide clear, consistent guidance to consumers," Blumenthal said. "Full disclosure also will encourage food manufacturers to offer healthier alternatives by reformulating existing products and providing new ones."
Blumenthal was joined by 11 other states in formal comments filed with the FDA that urged the administration to provide complete nutritional information, whether good or bad. This information, Blumenthal says, will allow consumers to make informed choices about their food purchases.
Blumenthal has called for front-of-package labels to apply to as many foods as possible and not to require payment of more than a reasonable licensing fee by food manufacturers.
Blumenthal also called for uniformity in labeling, with a single, national, uniform label serving as the sole nutritional label on the front of food packaging.
Blumenthal is joined in his call for the labels by Arizona, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont.