Now You Can Judge Your Food By Its Cover

Have you ever felt like you spend too much time grocery shopping? Does reading labels, lists of ingredients and health claims on food labels cause more confusion than they help? If this is how you feel when you grocery shop a new tool might make things a bit easier.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association along with the Food Marketing Institute recently announced a new initiative to provide nutrition information, education and easier label reading. The “Facts Up Front” nutrition icon and website are designed to communicate the facts of good nutrition and to highlight the nutritional information of each food product.

The “Facts Up Front” program (I have been on the advisory panel helping to guide development of these tools) is based on the results of an online consumer survey of more than 7,500 grocery shoppers.

The consumer survey found that shoppers want information that is science based, is presented in an unranked manner so that consumers can make their decisions and is focused not just on calories but on the nutrition in food.  

The result of the survey is a front of the package icon that indicates serving size, calories, saturated fat, sodium and sugar in that serving size. Food companies can choose to add one or two other icons to highlight nutrients that are rich or high in the product. Learn more about the icon here.

In addition to the on package icon, the website - http://www.factsupfront.org/  - provides tips on how to use the package icons, Nutrition 101 information, recipes and tips.  

Grocery shopping for better for you options doesn’t have to take all day.  With the help of “Facts Up Front” you can know what you are buying.