Abstract
The rapid growth in web-based grocery food purchasing has outpaced federal regulatory attention to the online provision of nutrition and allergen information historically required on food product labels. We sought to characterise the extent and variability that online retailers disclose required and regulated information and identify the legal authorities for the federal government to require online food retailers to disclose such information. We performed a limited scan of ten products across nine national online retailers and conducted legal research using LexisNexis to analyse federal regulatory agencies' authorities. USA. N/A. The scan of products revealed that required information (Nutrition Facts Panels, ingredient lists, common food allergens and per cent juice for fruit drinks) was present, conspicuous and legible for an average of only 36·5 % of the products surveyed, ranging from 11·4 % for potential allergens to 54·2 % for ingredients lists. More commonly, voluntary nutrition-related claims were prominently and conspicuously displayed (63·5 % across retailers and products). Our legal examination found that the Food and Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission and United States Department of Agriculture have existing regulatory authority over labelling, online sales and advertising, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme retailers that can be utilised to address deficiencies in the provision of required information in the online food retail environment. Information regularly provided to consumers in conventional settings is not being uniformly provided online. Congress or the federal agencies can require online food retailers disclose required nutrition and allergen information to support health, nutrition, equity and informed consumer decision-making.
Highlights
This research focused on packaged foods regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which are required to have a standardised information panel that discloses the Nutrition Facts Panel, ingredient list, common food allergens and, for fruit drinks, the per cent juice(12)
The products included Wonder Bread Classic White Bread (Flowers Foods, Inc.), Cheerios (General Mills), Honey Nut Cheerios (General Mills), Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds (Post Holdings), Frosted Flakes (Kellogg’s Company), Coca-Cola two-litre bottles (Coca-Cola Company), Kool-Aid Jammers Cherry pouches (Kraft Foods, Inc.) and three Capri Sun products (Kraft Heinz): Capri Sun Fruit Punch pouches, Capri Sun Roarin’ Waters Fruit Punch Wave pouches and Capri Sun Organic Fruit Punch pouches. These ten products were accessed, viewed and coded from nine online retailers – the eight retailers involved in the initial launch of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Online Purchasing Pilot (Amazon, Dash’s Market, Fresh Direct, Hy-Vee, Inc., Safeway, ShopRite [via Instacart], Walmart Stores Inc., and Wright’s Markets, Inc.(5)) plus Stop and Shop, a prominent supermarket chain that uses the Peapod online platform and which has historically been a major player in online grocery retail(18)
Legal landscape To identify existing authorities for the FDA, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to regulate online food retail labelling without new Congressional legislation, using LexisNexis in February– April 2021, we examined the United States Code and Code of Federal Regulations associated with labelling, online sales, food retailers and SNAP retailers, and relevant case law associated with these code sections
Summary
This research focused on packaged foods regulated by the FDA, which are required to have a standardised information panel that discloses the Nutrition Facts Panel, ingredient list, common food allergens and, for fruit drinks, the per cent juice(12). The products included Wonder Bread Classic White Bread (Flowers Foods, Inc.), Cheerios (General Mills), Honey Nut Cheerios (General Mills), Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds (Post Holdings), Frosted Flakes (Kellogg’s Company), Coca-Cola two-litre bottles (Coca-Cola Company), Kool-Aid Jammers Cherry pouches (Kraft Foods, Inc.) and three Capri Sun products (Kraft Heinz): Capri Sun Fruit Punch pouches, Capri Sun Roarin’ Waters Fruit Punch Wave pouches and Capri Sun Organic Fruit Punch pouches These ten products were accessed, viewed and coded from nine online retailers – the eight retailers involved in the initial launch of the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot (Amazon, Dash’s Market, Fresh Direct, Hy-Vee, Inc., Safeway, ShopRite [via Instacart], Walmart Stores Inc., and Wright’s Markets, Inc.(5)) plus Stop and Shop, a prominent supermarket chain that uses the Peapod online platform and which has historically been a major player in online grocery retail(18)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
