Food Labeling Toward National Uniformity

The Committee on State Food Labeling was assembled in the spring of 1991 by the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to conduct a study of selected Federal and State food labeling requirements. The study was initiated in response to the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA; P.L. 101–535). NLEA preempted all State and local misbranding laws and regulations on a fixed schedule in order to achieve national uniformity. One provision of Section 6 of NLEA required the Secretary
of Health and Human Services to enter into a contract with a public or nonprofit private entity to conduct a study of State and local laws that require food labeling of the type mandated by certain misbranding provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, as amended (FDCA)—that is, Sections 403(b), 403 (d), 403(f), 403(h), 403(i)(1), and 403(k). The study was also to consider whether the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been adequately implementing those sections prior to the effective date of preemption of related State and local requirements.