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Importance of food regulations
Importance of food regulations
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Canada’s food labelling practices are very much a work-in-progress. Labelling itself is a very important issue as it affects both product sales for companies and personal health for consumers, especially since most Canadian consumers learn about nutrition from food labels themselves (Nguyen) and are especially inclined to trust labels (Gruère, Carter and Farzin). Through labelling law, government is also able to impose food standards on products. An extensive set of rules to govern every possible category of food product is used and adhered to in the food inspection process. Food labelling itself is mainly tied to issues of health and safety and consumer rights, but has also recently been involved in trade relations (which will not be discussed), as is the case with US-Canada labelling laws. The practice of using misleading labelling that still complies with law has been done for some time. Still, legislation has been moving forward, starting in December 2002 when nutrition labelling was enforced in the Food and Drugs Regulations, which has since been amended in 2005 (HealthCanada). Whilst the government is taking a proactive stance towards labelling (partly due to consumer lobby groups), companies in the food industry are still able to produce misleading and/or uninformative labelling through simple manipulation of the English language and interpretation of law. Below, current legislation will be discussed, followed by company practices and the organic food market. The current Food and Drugs Regulations appear quite solid. Definitions are made for a variety of terms such as “daily value”, and rules are made with very specific scopes, breaking down stakeholders (consumers, producers/retailers) into groups so that there is s... ... middle of paper ... ... In conclusion, all aspects of food labelling, from nutrition facts to words and symbols, are all regulated to help provide consumers with accurate information about products. However, industry practices seeking to inflate product values through labelling or hide seemingly undesirable facts only serve to limit the consumers’ knowledge. Legislation attempts to deal with this, but food companies are still generally able to work around laws. If implemented correctly, the benefits of nutrition labelling according to the Food and Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC), " over the next 20 years will save $5 billion in health costs in preventing cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, according to a government study." (Starphoenix). Sadly, labelling is still used as a method of influencing sales and international trade rather than helping consumers make good purchasing choices.
The act of manufactures labeling of our foods products in terms of the ingredients a particular product contains and the nutritious facts is sometimes taken for granted, we often see the labels on our food products, but ignore them because we’re so used to seeing them in our daily lives. Surprisingly, food product labeling, specifically that pertaining to allergen warnings, were not always available to consumers until a government mandate in 2004 (FALCPA). I think part of the reason for such a lateness in regulation was due to a social stigma regarding allergies, that having them was some sort of natural selection and not an issue that should be taken care of. Another surprising notion I came across was that although there was no government regulation, manufactures of food products took a good amount of initiative in letting their consumers know of potential allergens in their products.
You’ll see most people do not read the labels of the food they are buying. This is because they don’t care, it takes time and people nowadays are very busy. Like Berry said, “they buy what they want-or what they have been persuaded to want-within the limits of what they can get.” People are accustomed to buying what they have been taught to buy by their parents or caretakers as they were growing up. We learn to eat what we have been given as children and we tend to follow that same pattern of eating, which, for most people, is what we can
Obesity has continued to grow and affect not only the lives of the individual with obesity and their families but also the society around them. We have learned that from the growth of obesity money problems arise and the price of health care has risen. I believe that because of this problem nutrition labels are an important part of food for consumers. People should be watching what they eat if necessary and nutrition labels should be trustworthy and looked at wisely. Since this is important I feel that the government should have a say to what goes on the labels and making sure that they are informative to the American society. The FDA, which is the US Food and Drug Administration, are part of the US government Department of Food and Health. Their goal and slogan is “Protecting and Promoting Your Health.” The FDA has a very important role in nutrition labels and the protection of helping people become aware of what they are eating. Since their role is important the government should definitely continue to regulate what goes on the labels and how they can continue to help bene...
The government plays an important part in our safety, but many people think they take it too far. Recently, people have thought more and more about how much involvement the government should have when it comes to food regulations. Some people think the government's involvement in regulating food would greatly help obesity rates, and others think the country's obesity rates would show little to no improvement. Although no one cause of obesity exists, and no government regulations will likely alter someone’s lifestyle choices, the government should implement some regulations by implementing programs to educate and encourage citizens to lead a healthier life and by requiring companies to list a full disclosure of ingredients on their products.
The initial wave of class action litigation filed against food manufacturers challenged a variety of claims, such as terms, “trans-fat free” and “all-natural” or “100 percent natural”, used to label products. See, e.g., Garrison v. Whole Food Market Inc., No. 13-05333 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 8, 2013). At the first outbreak of the food labeling lawsuits, plaintiffs’ bar initially attacked these suits with a variety of legal theories, but struggled to overcome common defenses, such as lack of standing, preemption, and primary jurisdiction. Furthermore, regulatory agencies, such as the U.S Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), have continued to refrain from providing sufficient guidance to food manufacturers, specifically as to what constitutes “natural” or “all natural.”
Pomeranz, Jennifer L. "A Comprehensive Strategy To Overhaul FDA Authority For Misleading Food Labels." American Journal Of Law & Medicine 39.4 (2013): 617-647. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Apr. 2014.
A food label is a source of advertising a food product. Manufacturers try their best to make their product food label as attractive as possible, by using bright colours, bold text, food claims, and a lot of information. Too much information on a food label might have caused a lot of painful headaches for consumers; but it's all worth it, due to many health and nutrition problems. By law, manufacturers must abide by the standard code terms of what is put on their food label. By this, a food label must have no false claims or information, be in English and legible and easy to see. Also must contain a barcode, name of food, list of ingredients in descending order of weight, net weight, any additives in the food, country of origin, use of imported ingredients, name and address of manufacturer, date marking and nutrition panel if any claims are made.
If we label articles such as cleaning supplies and nail polish remover that will do harm when ingested then why do we not label foods that can cause serious illness of death? Each day thousands of adults and children are diagnosed with disabling conditions such as heart disease and diabetes and the rates are rapidly increasing. Many of these lifelong impairments are directly related to the diets that we attest to as a society. Foods with GMO’s, hydrogenated oils, artificial sugars (aspartame), high fructose corn syrup, and monosodium glutamate ought to be clearly labeled on the front of its packaging for the consumer to recognize.
It would not be a surprise that television, internet, and any other kinds of ads of big fast food companies such as McDonalds® or Subway® have successfully advance their ideas of healthy foods in many of Americans. Yet all of these wealthy corporations, along with many other smaller companies, have many ways to sell their products. These methods could be underhanded loaded with jargon. Information of simple knowledge overfilled with confusing and sometimes random information that otherwise will be too insignificant for people to put an effort to learning about. There are also times where information is overly simplified and have no real background to make a worthy judgment. Amidst all of the fallacies in the fast food industry, there exist reliable sources of information.
I know that research shows that when such information is available about one-quarter of coustomers use it to limit what we decide to eat. The customers consume an average of 400 fewer calories than they typically did prior to labeling.They should start by making an obvious point one that both sides should agree on one healthy person is equation is of course fitness and that
More and More people are becoming concerned about what they eat, especially if they consume food products that are manufactured in food industries. However, it is hard to know what exactly you are consuming if food industries provide false nutrition content and mislead consumers by placing false advertisements on the packaging. When a company produces a product that contains misleading label, consumers are not receiving complete information about the food they are eating which could lead to health issues including allergies and problems with diabetes.
For over a century, the government has been give us nutrition advice, telling us what we should or shouldn’t eat to stay healthy. Marion Nestles argument in her book, Food Politics, shows a corruption in the relationship between the government, principally the USDA through its dietary recommendations, the US Farm bill, and the food industry. The problem, says Marion Nestle, is that our diets are a political issue, because dietary advice affects food sales. Accordingly, corporate food companies use their relationships with people in the government, and science to push their product as a healthy choice. In other words, when it comes to consumption of food, strategic decisions are driven by economics; science, common sense, and health have very little to do with it. This explains why the food pyramid/plate has changed a number of times over the past century. It’s been influenced by the corporate food companies to drive sales. An example of this is given in chapter two of Food Politics, where the recently appointed Secretary of the U.S Department of Agriculture blocked the printing of the department’s latest food guide—the eating right pyramid. The reason for this was that the pyramid advised a dietary pattern in which people should eat more grains, fruits and vegetables, with a reduction in dairy and meat products, and even less consumption of foods high in fat and sugar. Accordingly, it’s no surprise that companies in the meat and dairy industry used their influence to prevent such a food guide from coming out. As you can see, there is a correlation between dietary advice and sales in the food industry, and therefore, corruption is inevitable.
Researchers at McGill University found that the current Nutrition Facts label used in the U.S. and Canada was the least helpful out of the four labels that were studied. Researchers explained that the current U.S. and Canada Nutrition Facts label was too confusing for people to understand because most shoppers do not have a long time to analyze all of the nutrients listed in the current label. Therefore, McGill University said that the label was not helpful because it provided nutrition information but failed to give advice about the information provided to the shopper. McGill University researchers also studied the NuVal nutrition label and found that it was the most effective out of all four nutrition labels studied. The NuVal label provides the shopper with a single score—ranging from 1-100—that resembles how healthy that particular food is. It was found that the NuVal scores correlated with healthier choices in the supermarkets because the scores are easy to interpret quickly while shopping. The Traffic Light label that is used in the UK was found to be somewhat helpful by the researchers at McGill. The Traffic Light label did make it more difficult and more time consuming for customers to understand the label because customers had to compare multiple lights for each of the separate categories being highlighted by the traffic lights. Finally, researchers studied the food label that just provides an insignia on the packaging that either says the food is healthy
With all of the controversy surrounding GMO foods, a topic that always arises is the subject of labeling. Labeling has been a matter of discussion for years and surprisingly, a consensus has not been reached. In the labeling argument, big organizations that oppose labeling claim that mandatory labels would increase costs. Supporters of labels meanwhile, argue in favor of the consumers’ right to know of just what it is that they are consuming. The debate of cost over right to know seems to be what fuels the persistent war between supporters and opposers of labeling. While there is huge opposition, labeling GM foods is a necessity and needs to become a reality in America.
Food labels are supposed to tell us exactly what’s in the foods we consume but we don’t know where those things come from. I think that food labels should state exactly where and what companies provided the ingredients in the foods on the food labels. If we knew exactly what we were eating we could prevent each other from getting sick from the foods. The government will never release exactly what we are eating because they’re are gaining too much money when they keep things kept a secret but; too many people are getting sick from these foods we need to be able to prevent ourselves from getting