A Consumer Brands led program:

Facts up Front

Facts up Front

Food and beverage manufacturers and retailers want consumers to have the information they need to make informed decisions at the grocery store. Specific to food and beverage products, Facts up Front® has been delivering at-a-glance product information for more than a decade. Facts up Front is a voluntary industry-led labeling initiative that summarizes important nutrition information from the Nutrition Facts Panel (found on the back and sides of packages) in a simple and easy-to-use format on the front of food and beverage packages. The industry has worked in partnership with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for over a decade to improve the accessibility of critical nutrition facts, promoting nutrition literacy and helping consumers achieve their unique dietary goals.

The nutrition facts highlights are straight from the Nutrition Facts panel that you’re used to seeing on the side or back of food packages. FDA requires manufacturers to display nutrition information including serving sizes, calories, how much nutrients contribute to your total daily diet and an updated nutrient list to reflect recent scientific information and nutrition research. Facts up Front leverages the science behind the Nutrition Facts panel to help consumers compare information and make more informed choices on products that support personal dietary needs. Like the Nutrition Facts panel, Facts up Front is an essential tool for choosing foods that contain more of the nutrients you want and less of the nutrients you want to avoid.

Facts up Front labels display the number of calories and the amount of saturated fat, sodium and added sugars contained in each serving of a food or beverage product. Some labels may also provide information about other positive nutrients, such as dietary fiber and calcium.

Industry continues to follow science, adhere to FDA guidance and provide the consumer with the information they most want to meet their dietary needs and goals, and therefore continues to evolve the Facts up Front program to meet the consumer with that information. For example, Facts up Front was recently updated to include added sugars on some labels.

Iconography

What type of nutrition information does the Facts up Front Icon provide?

Facts up Front labeling highlights information about calories, saturated fat, sodium and added sugars – dietary components the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting in the diet.

The four icons are always presented together as a consistent set:

In addition, manufacturers may also include up to two “nutrients to encourage.”

These nutrients — dietary fiber, protein, vitamin D, calcium, iron, potassium, vitamin A and vitamin C— are needed to build a “nutrient-dense” diet, as noted in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and are highlighted in the Nutrition Facts panel. These “nutrients to encourage” can only be placed on a package when a product contains 10 percent or more of the Daily Value per serving of the nutrient and meets the FDA requirements for a “good source” nutrient content claim.

On small food packages with limited space, one icon may be used, representing calories in a single serving of the food and beverage product.

Facts up Front was created by the food industry and retailers and led by the Consumer Brands Association and FMI.