
The new, redesigned "Nutrition Facts" label is coming. The Food and Drug Administration has announced that the new label will be required on most packaged food by July.
The big change: The label will have a separate line showing how much sugar has been added to each food. The amount of "added sugar" will be expressed in grams and as a percentage of a "Daily Value" — an amount of sugar consumption that nutritionists think would be reasonable as part of a daily 2,000-calorie diet. The label also will display calories per serving, and serving size, more prominently.
As one example, a 20-ounce bottle of Coke could show 65 grams of added sugar, representing 130 percent of a recommended daily intake.
The change reflects increasing concern about the amount of sugar that Americans consume, and the amount of sugar that's added to common foods.
Several advocacy groups cheered the FDA's move. Michael Jacobson, founder of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, released a statement saying that the new labels will allow consumers to make more informed choices and "should also spur food manufacturers to add less sugar to their products."