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Showing posts from July, 2015

Who determines what is healthy?

If news that the FDA recently asked KIND to stop referring to their bars as “healthy” has you confused, you are not alone. With ingredients like nuts and fruit that nutrition experts consistently encourage, it may seem odd that they wouldn’t be healthy. So, what is the FDA saying? Why is the FDA involved? The FDA, or Food and Drug Administration, is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring that foods (except for meat from livestock, poultry and some egg products which are regulated by the USDA) are safe, wholesome, sanitary and properly labeled. Under its role to ensure that foods are properly labeled, FDA regulates the use of health claims on foods, including the term “healthy.” What does “healthy” mean to the FDA? Most nutrition experts will tell you that being healthy is about eating a variety of good foods. Defining one food as healthy or not within the context of an overall diet can be complicated. To make sure that the term is applied to foods consistently, the FD