Food Labels Will List Trans Fat Amounts ‘Very Soon,’ FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan Says

Food labels will "very soon" include information on the amount of trans fat, FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan said yesterday at meeting in Cambridge, Mass., with food industry executives, government officials and academic researchers, the Wall Street Journal reports (Wall Street Journal, 7/2). Last summer, a National Academy of Sciences report linked trans fat to heart disease and high cholesterol and said that no level of trans fat consumption was safe (California Healthline, 9/26/02). "We do need to get this on the label as soon as possible," McClellan said, although he did not provide details on when the FDA would require the new information on food labels. Gene Grabowski, a spokesperson for the Grocery Manufacturers of America, said that the group supports the move provided that information on trans fat is not listed as a "separate item like some sort of food warning" (Fitzgerald, Boston Herald, 7/2). McClellan said, "We need to do more to connect food choices to health consequences," adding that there are not enough labels on products telling of the health benefits or detriments of certain foods (Wall Street Journal, 7/2).