Albert & Angela Farone Distinguished Professor of Law, Albany Law School, Albany, NY, USA.
Public Health Nutr. 2011 Jun;14(6):1123-6; discussion 1127. doi: 10.1017/S1368980010002843. Epub 2010 Nov 17.
In recent months, the FDA has begun a crackdown on misleading nutrition and health claims on the front of food packages by issuing warning letters to manufacturers and promising to develop stricter regulatory standards. Leading nutrition policy experts Marion Nestle and David Ludwig have called for an even tougher approach: a ban on all nutrition and health claims on the front of food packages. Nestle and Ludwig argue that most of these claims are scientifically unsound and misleading to consumers and that eliminating them would 'aid educational efforts to encourage the public to eat whole or minimally processed foods and to read the ingredients list on processed foods'. Nestle and Ludwig are right to raise concerns about consumer protection and public health when it comes to front-of-package food labels, but an outright ban on front-of-package nutrition and health claims would violate the First Amendment. As nutrition policy experts develop efforts to regulate front-of-package nutrition and health claims, they should be mindful of First Amendment constraints on government regulation of commercial speech.
近几个月来，美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）开始对食品包装正面的误导性营养和健康声明采取严厉措施，向制造商发出警告信，并承诺制定更严格的监管标准。领先的营养政策专家马里恩·内斯特（Marion Nestle）和大卫·路德维希（David Ludwig）呼吁采取更严厉的措施：禁止在食品包装正面使用所有营养和健康声明。内斯特和路德维希认为，这些声明大多数在科学上站不住脚，对消费者具有误导性，取消这些声明将“有助于教育公众鼓励他们食用完整或经过最小加工的食物，并阅读加工食品的成分清单”。在涉及食品包装正面标签时，内斯特和路德维希提出保护消费者和公共健康的担忧是正确的，但全面禁止食品包装正面的营养和健康声明将违反第一修正案。随着营养政策专家制定监管食品包装正面营养和健康声明的努力，他们应该意识到第一修正案对政府监管商业言论的限制。
