Nutrition Labeling and Education Act

Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990

Long title	To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prescribe nutrition labeling for foods, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	NLE Act, "NL&E Act"
Enacted by	the 101st United States Congress
Effective	November 8, 1990
Citations
Public law	101-535
Statutes at Large	104 Stat. 2353
Codification
Acts amended	Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
Titles amended	21 U.S.C.: Food and Drugs
U.S.C. sections amended	Chapter 9 § 301
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as www.congress.gov/bill/101st-congress/house-bill/3562 by Henry Waxman (D–CA) on October 31, 1989 Committee consideration by House Committee on Energy and Commerce Passed the House on July 30, 1990 (passed voice vote) Passed the Senate on October 24, 1990 (passed voice vote) with amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on October 26, 1990 (passed voice vote) Signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on November 8, 1990
United States Supreme Court cases
New York State Restaurant Association v. New York City Board of Health

The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) (Public Law 101-535) is a 1990 United States Federal law. It was signed into law on November 8, 1990 by President George H. W. Bush.

The law gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to require nutrition labeling of most foods regulated by the Agency; and to require that all nutrient content claims (for example, 'high fiber', 'low fat', etc.) and health claims meet FDA regulations. The act did not require restaurants to comply with the same standards.

The regulations became effective for health claims, ingredient declarations, and percent juice labeling on May 8, 1993 (but percent juice labeling was exempted until May 8, 1994).

Effective Jan. 1, 2006, the Nutrition Facts Labels on packaged food products are required by the FDA to list how many grams of trans fatty acid (trans fat) are contained within one serving of the product.

Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah introduced the Health Freedom Act of 1992 which would have blocked the FDA from using health claims as a reason to regulate dietary supplements as drugs. The senator said he "entered the controversy after hearing from constituents in his home state, including both consumers and makers of dietary supplements". Hatch stated that the FDA "can put anybody out of business if they want to." Hatch's bill did not get very far, but it encouraged Congress to pass the Dietary Supplement Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-571), which blocked the FDA from applying its forthcoming labeling rules for conventional foods to dietary supplements for another year, until the end of 1993.

The Nutritional Health Alliance, an industry lobby group, claimed credit for getting the Dietary Supplement Act of 1992 passed.

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