The government agency has issued two Advanced Notices of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRMs) relating to nutrition labels which are aimed at helping Americans make more informed decisions.
"We are interested in exploring how modifying the food labeling regulations might give consumers better information they can use to control and manage their weight," said Dr Robert Brackett, director of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
It has granted a 75-day window for members of the public to submit comments on the ANPRMs, a process which the government says is to "give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule-making prior to the adoption of the final rules".
In the first ANPRM, entitled Food Labeling; Prominence of Calories, the government agency is requesting comments on how information relating to calorie content is presented on packaged foods and how this information is used by consumers to make healthier dietary choices.
Such changes, it believes, may lead to the reformulation of foods or redesign of packaging - an implication on which it is also soliciting comments.
The second ANPRM seeks comments on how labels could be amended to make it easier for consumers to choose more healthful foods, and in particular information relating to serving size.
Where packaged foods might reasonably be expected to be consumed in one sitting, for example, would it be better to provide nutritional information for the whole package, it asks.
A nutrition facts panel is required on the packaging of all foods by the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act. The FDA's final requirements establishing nutritional labeling were published in 1993.The FDA said its new proposals are in direct responses to recommendations made by its Obesity Working Group in a report entitled "Calories Count", in which weight control is said to be mainly a function of caloric balance.
Calorie balance also formed a key part of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans published in January. Among 41 individual recommendations, the key messages of the new guidelines focused on calorie control and exercise, encouraging consumers to choose foods that provide the most nutrition for the calories they contain.
An estimated 65 percent of adult Americans and 16 percent of children and adolescents are either overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some food companies have already taken steps to improve the clarity of their nutrition labeling in the light of the obesity epidemic.
In January Kraft Foods announced the US extension of its Sensible Solution labeling program, which was already in place in the UK. Its new labels flag up content of beneficial nutrients, such as protein, calcium or fiber and draw attention to reduced calorie, fat, saturated fat, sugar, or sodium products.
Comments on the ANPRMs may be submitted to the FDA by email quoting the relevent docket number in the subject (2004N-0463 for the first ANPRM and 2004N-0456 for the second).