Two more weeks to weigh in on new nutrition label

UC Berkeley is giving people who are unsatisfied with the information on the ubiquitous "nutrition facts" food label a chance to suggest changes. Calling the current nutrition label "confusing and underutilized," Berkeley and collaborator News21 are asking the public how they envision a label that will help consumers make healthier, more informed choices about the food they eat.

There are two more weeks to submit ideas. Following the deadline, a panel of nutrition heavyweights will judge the submissions. The panel includes:

• Michael Pollen, author of Food Rules
• Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF professor of clinical pediatrics
• Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest
• Andrew Vande Moere of Information Aesthetics
• Laura Brunow Miner of Pictory

Designs should be uploaded as jpg images, 450 pixels wide, on the Rethink the Food Label submission page no later than July 1. Ideas will be judged on functionality and design. Winners and the runners-up will later be asked for high resolution versions.

On the Internet page GoodFood.com, Michael Pollen explained what he saw lacking in the current food label.

"The focus on nutrients is probably inevitable but it distracts from the issue, which is whether you're getting real food or not," Pollen said. "Fiber, for example, is a slippery category. There are different types, and so manufacturers can game the system by adding irrelevant inert materials to food. Soluble and insoluble are different and the fiber in grain or fruit, for example, is important possibly because of what accompanies it, so how do you capture that?"

What would a useful nutrition label look like?

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