A Comment on “Public Policy Issues in Health Claims for Foods

Abstract

The regulation of nutrition information on food labels and in food advertising is one of the most important public health issues now pending before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Widely disparate recommendations have been made concerning how these two agencies should regulate the provision of such information. This comment responds to the views presented by Calfee and Pappalardo [1991], which rely on free market principles to provide such information. The views expressed by the authors represent a refinement of similar views expressed by the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Economics and the Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection since 1984. Thus, this comment is not only a response to the preceding paper, but also represents a critique of FTC policy in this area. Public health concerns underlying the need for better nutrition information in food labeling and advertising will be reviewed. Differing regulatory approaches to providing nutrition information through the inclusion of health claims on food labels will be analyzed by contrasting the requirements of the new Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) [1990] with the regulatory approach recommended by the authors. Several marketing campaigns for foods instituted prior to the enactment of the NLEA, and regulated in accordance with the recommendations of the authors will be reviewed. Reasons why the FTC should modify its current regulatory and enforcement policies regarding health claims and make them uniform with those followed by the FDA in accordance with the requirements of the NLEA will be given.