{"id":24144,"date":"2025-01-06T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=24144"},"modified":"2024-12-20T09:30:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T14:30:40","slug":"some-plant-based-dairy-alternatives-can-qualify-to-be-labeled-as-healthy-according-to-an-updated-fda-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2025\/01\/06\/some-plant-based-dairy-alternatives-can-qualify-to-be-labeled-as-healthy-according-to-an-updated-fda-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Some \u201cPlant-based Dairy Alternatives\u201d Can Qualify to be Labeled as Healthy According to an Updated FDA Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n

Did you know that there are restrictions on when a food product can be labeled as \u201chealthy?\u201d Thirty years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) developed standards that products had to meet to have \u201chealthy\u201d appear on their label. Based on the thinking at the time, products had to have less than specified amounts of fat, sodium, saturated fat, and cholesterol and provide at least 10% of the Daily Value (DV) for one or more of the following nutrients: vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, protein, and fiber. The problem with these standards was that a highly sweetened breakfast cereal that had vitamin C added to it could be labeled \u201chealthy,\u201d but avocados, nuts, and seeds could not be labeled \u201chealthy\u201d because of their total fat content.<\/p>\n

On December 19, 2024 the FDA issued an updated rule that provided new requirements that products had to meet in order to be labeled as \u201chealthy\u201d (1). In general terms, products must contain a certain amount of vegetables, fruits, \u201cprotein foods,\u201d whole grains, and\/or \u201cdairy\u201d and not have too much saturated fat, added sugars, or sodium. The \u201cdairy\u201d group includes not only cow\u2019s milk, yogurt, and cheese but also \u201cfortified soymilk and plant-based dairy alternatives with similar nutrient composition as dairy.\u201d Thus, plant milks and yogurts \u201cwhose overall nutritional content is similar to dairy foods (e.g., provide similar amounts of protein, calcium, potassium, vitamin D, and other nutrients) and are used as alternatives to milk and yogurt\u201d could quality for \u201chealthy\u201d on their label (1). Soymilk but also oat milk, almond milk, and other plant milks that meet these criteria could be labeled \u201chealthy\u201d in the same way that dairy milks could be labeled. This is a change from previous governmental statements which only included soymilk and yogurt in the \u201cdairy\u201d group.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll provide more information about \u201chealthy\u201d on food labels in future posts.<\/p>\n

Reference<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Food and Drug Administration. 21 CFR Part 101. [Docket No. FDA-2016-D-2335] Food Labeling: Nutrient Content Claims: Definition of Term \u201cHealthy.\u201d https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/public-inspection\/2024-29957\/food-labeling-nutrient-content-claims-definition-of-term-healthy?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery<\/a>. 2024.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To read more about \u201chealthy\u201d on food labels see:<\/p>\n

    What Does \u201cHealthy\u201d on a Food Label Mean to You?<\/a><\/p>\n

    The Vegetarian Resource Group Testimony to FDA (Food and Drug Administration) Concerning the Use of \u201cHealthy\u201d on Food Labels<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD Did you know that there are restrictions on when a food product can be labeled as \u201chealthy?\u201d Thirty years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) developed standards that products had to meet to have \u201chealthy\u201d appear on their label. Based on the thinking at the time, products had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24146,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24144\/revisions\/24146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}