Should our snacks have warning labels?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 September 2024
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The FDA wants to propose putting labels on the front of food and drink packages in order to flag whether they are high in added sugar, saturated fat or sodium. The effort aims to help people make healthier choices and to address the nation’s exploding rates of diet-related diseases.
The proposal could come as early as next month, but a fight with the food industry is already heating up. At the same time, some nutrition experts and lawmakers worry the FDA options under consideration are confusing and won’t be clear enough to protect Americans’ health.
So, what could these labels even look like?
Today on “Post Reports,” reporter Lauren Weber joins host Martine Powers to unpack the FDA efforts and how possible labels might compare with the front-of-package food warnings commonly found in other countries like Chile and Mexico.
Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon, with help from Ariel Plotnick. It was edited by Monica Campbell and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Tracy Jan and Rachel Roubein.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So Lauren, in addition to you being in the studio here with me, you have also brought some very special guests. |
| 0:11.0 | Can you introduce us? |
| 0:13.5 | So we have just a plethora of everyone's favorite snacks |
| 0:17.7 | in the US here. |
| 0:19.2 | We've got Nature Valley Granola Bars. |
| 0:22.1 | Ooh. |
| 0:23.0 | I have eaten many of those in my time. |
| 0:25.0 | Yes, absolutely. |
| 0:26.0 | And then you gotta pass the Cheetos over because that's my gem. |
| 0:28.0 | Yeah, the Cheetos are looking quite orange and exciting over here. |
| 0:32.6 | Crunchy. |
| 0:33.6 | What you're hearing is Health and Science reporter Lauren Weber going through this big box of |
| 0:38.7 | snacks with my co-host Martin Powers. |
| 0:41.6 | The fact that they put crunchy on it, |
| 0:43.2 | it's like there aren't any Cheetos that aren't crunchy, |
| 0:45.0 | but just the fact that they say crunchy |
| 0:46.5 | makes me want to eat them more, |
| 0:47.5 | because I'm like, they are crunchy. |
| 0:48.9 | They are orange-finger-licking snacks |
| 0:50.9 | that everybody loves to have. |
| 0:52.6 | And then you've got cheerios, which |
| 0:54.9 | you got the big old box at the big old heart on the front. |
... |
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