FDA Moves to Level the Food-Labeling Playing Field

The FDA is charged with ensuring that the labeling of packaged foods is not “false or misleading in any particular,” as mandated by the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.  That ensures that consumers are not deceived and know what they're paying for.

In recent years, however, regulators' enforcement priorities have become distorted. In 2017, they sent a formal Warning Letter to a Massachusetts bakery for including “love” in its ingredient list. “‘Love' is not a common or usual name of an ingredient, and is considered to be intervening material because it is not part of the common or usual name of the ingredient,” it said.