The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final rule to revise the type size requirements for front-of-pack (FOP) calorie declarations that are used to comply with the vending machine calorie labeling requirements. The final rule requires such calorie declarations to be at least 150 percent the size of the net quantity of contents statement as required under 21 C.F.R. § 101.7(i) (i.e., 1.5 x the size of the net weight). FDA proposed this change to the type size requirements in July 2018, after industry expressed concerns that the previous type size requirement for FOP calorie declarations – at least 50 percent of the size of the largest printed matter on the label – was impractical, needlessly burdensome, and would disrupt existing voluntary industry front-of-pack nutrition labeling programs. The compliance date for the new font size requirement is July 1, 2021. FDA also announced it will continue its enforcement discretion with respect to the vending machine labeling requirements as applied to gums, mints, and roll candy products sold in glass-front machines in packages that are too small to bear FOP labeling.
