From: Ag/FDA Blog – The OFW Law Blog
By Richard L. Frank and Bruce Silverglade
The White House’s role with USDA’s regulations for school foods and the WIC feeding program has been widely reported. Lesser known is the White House involvement in FDA food labeling policy.
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About a year ago, FDA requested permission from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct a study to find out if an “Added Sugars” disclosure would be helpful or confusing to consumers. However, to coincide with the anniversary of the Let’s Move! campaign, FDA, on March 3, published its proposed rule including “Added Sugars” labeling despite the absence of any consumer survey research. OMB approval of FDA’s research study was granted in an untimely fashion three weeks after the proposed regulation was published (and then only after trade press reports had drawn attention to the matter).
The consumer research study is just now underway and the results are not known … much less published for public comment.