Can I Call My Food Healthy?

fda healthy labeling Jan 25, 2019

You’ve worked hard caring about and developing your food product. You know what’s in it and you selected the best ingredients because it matters to you what goes into your customers bodies. But just because you think it’s “healthy” doesn’t necessarily mean you can label your product that way without knowing the rules.

Whether you can call your product “healthy” depends on a number of factors. The first thing to figure out is what laws apply to your product. That will tell you what government agency or agencies you need to pay attention to.

Is your product packaged and sold across state lines? If so, you are most likely governed by the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act and subject to the FDA’s definition of “healthy.” Most processed and packaged foods (excluding primarily meat and poultry products) will fall into this category. 

The term “healthy” -- or any similar term -- can only be used if your...

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