By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

The Nutrition Facts label on packaged foods is being updated. New labels are being phased in. As of January 1, 2020, large manufacturers – those with $10 million or more in annual sales  –  were required to switch to the new label by January 1, 2020. Smaller manufacturers have until January 1, 2021 to comply. This means that for the time being, you may see a mix of new and old versions of the labels at stores. A sign that you are looking at the new version of the label is that it includes added sugars, vitamin D, and potassium. These were not required to be included in the older version of labels.

Daily Values are established by the FDA. The Daily Value for a nutrient is a single value, often similar to the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), that is selected to be used for the labels of foods and supplements.  Daily values are amounts of nutrients that people are recommended to consume or not to exceed each day. The Daily Value may be somewhat different from the amount of a nutrient you need. For example, the RDA for calcium for adults ranges from 1,000 milligrams for younger adults to 1,300 milligrams for pregnant and lactating women. The new Daily Value for calcium is set at 1,300 milligrams.  If you are a young adult, you would not have to get 1,300 milligrams, but the label could still help you to see whether a food is high in calcium. The label actually provides the %Daily Value so that consumers can see how much (what percentage) a serving of the product contributes to reaching the Daily Value. The new labels give both the %Daily Value and the actual amount of the nutrient in a product. For example, the Nutrition Facts label for 1 cup serving of one brand of fortified soy milk says that it has 450 mg of calcium, 30% DV (note that this %DV is rounded since 390 mg is actually 34% of 1300 mg).

Calcium is one example of a nutrient whose Daily Value has increased. Others include potassium, vitamin C, and vitamin D. Nutrients whose Daily Value has decreased include zinc and vitamin B12. These changes don’t mean that an individual’s need for the nutrient has changed; rather, the change is with the amount on the label. You can see all of the changes here.