American Dairy Coalition, an organization of advocacy by dairy farmers for dairy farmers, has filed an official comment at the Federal Register on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Healthy Labeling Rule and proposed Front-of-Package rating label for saturated fat, sodium and added sugar.
The FDA recently extended the public comment period to July 15, 2025.
The rule discriminates against all real dairy products, with the possible exception of nonfat yogurt and nonfat milk, on the basis of outdated thresholds for saturated fat and sodium, paying little attention to the nutrient density of real dairy products that deliver unsurpassed nutrition, including key nutrients of public health concern, which health officials admit are under consumed in the low-fat dietary recommendations today.
In the introduction of its four-page letter of public comment, ADC states:
“To call the front-of-label rating box “nutrition information” is a misnomer. The most nutrient dense natural foods that are high in nutrients of public health concern are also above the thresholds being set for saturated fat and sodium. For example, most natural and minimally processed dairy foods, as well as all natural meats and other animal-derived products, would not be permitted to make a healthy claim or use the healthy label under the rule FDA is finalizing. This is a travesty to Making America Healthy Again.
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“The front-of-label ‘nutrition information box’ contains no ‘nutrition information,’ which will confuse consumers and direct them away from reading the back-label containing actual nutrition information! The front-of-label box only highlights saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar without regard for nutrients. Furthermore, these ratings are based on outdated Dietary Guidelines.
“Under the current thresholds for saturated fat in the healthy labeling rule, only unflavored non-fat yogurt and unflavored non-fat milk would qualify. These two products tend to be flavored and sugared, however, to make up for the removal of fat, so even most versions of these products may not qualify. Few adults and practically zero children will consume nonfat yogurt or nonfat milk without flavoring. By keeping the fat in these products, more consumers would be takers — without needing the added sugar, or certainly less of it.
“Under the threshold for sodium, dairy products are also discriminated against – without regard for actual nutrition. This means no cheese, even the cottage cheeses, yogurt, kefir, or other natural dairy products would qualify even though these and other dairy products are a most nutrient-dense and natural source of complete high-quality protein in the diet. Even the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has observed that dairy contains hard to find, under consumed nutrients for health, such as natural calcium, potassium, as well as Vitamin D. Dairy contains 13 essential nutrients! Nutrition and health panels have already declared that Americans – especially children – do not consume enough dairy and do not consume enough calcium, potassium, Vitamin D, and other nutrients that dairy delivers, and some of these nutrients are fat soluble.
“These FDA rules will further reduce consumption of these foods and nutrients – because of saturated fat and sodium content. This outcome is especially harmful to growing children. Surely by now, it is now obvious that the experiment with nonfat and low-fat diets has shown an inverse relationship with negative health impacts in the higher rates of overweight, obesity, and chronic illness, including for children and teens. The latter are even more subjected to the flawed basis for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) via school lunch rules, where most children get two meals a day, five days a week, most of the year.”
Find ADC’s entire comment here
To write your own comment, feel free to associate with ADC’s comment or cut and paste portions of it into your own letter. The docket portal for FDA-2024-N-2910-0001 can be found here
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