Food policies are designed to influence the operation of the food and agriculture system. One important way of conveying nutritional information to the consumer is by labeling the food. Standards for the implementation of the labeling guidelines were established by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA) (P.L. 101–535, 1990), which mandated that labeling information should be communicated so that consumers could readily observe and comprehend such information and understand its relative significance in the context of a total daily diet (Institute of Medicine, 2006). Food labeling is intended to educate the consumer on the choices about food and beverages when deciding on a healthy intake. The NLEA requires nutritional information to be displayed on nearly all packaged foods as to serving size, the number of servings per container, the total number of calories derived from any source and derived from fat, and the amount of total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, sugars, dietary fiber, total protein, vitamins A, C, E, and iron per serving (Institute of Medicine, 2006). However, Full serve and quick serve restaurants are currently exempt from the general nutritional labeling standards and requirements of the NLEA (Institute of Medicine, 2006). Though, they are required to meet some nutritional labeling requirements if they identify an item on their menu as “healthy”
Food policies are designed to influence the operation of the food and agriculture system. One important way of conveying nutritional information to the consumer is by labeling the food. Standards for the implementation of the labeling guidelines were established by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA) (P.L. 101–535, 1990), which mandated that labeling information should be communicated so that consumers could readily observe and comprehend such information and understand its relative significance in the context of a total daily diet (Institute of Medicine, 2006). Food labeling is intended to educate the consumer on the choices about food and beverages when deciding on a healthy intake. The NLEA requires nutritional information to be displayed on nearly all packaged foods as to serving size, the number of servings per container, the total number of calories derived from any source and derived from fat, and the amount of total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, sugars, dietary fiber, total protein, vitamins A, C, E, and iron per serving (Institute of Medicine, 2006). However, Full serve and quick serve restaurants are currently exempt from the general nutritional labeling standards and requirements of the NLEA (Institute of Medicine, 2006). Though, they are required to meet some nutritional labeling requirements if they identify an item on their menu as “healthy”