Truth-in-Packaging Wins Senate OK
increasingly concerned with organic products, GMOs and, most recently, sell-by-date accuracy. So it is difficult to imagine a time when those regulations had yet to be established. The mid-'60s marked the beginning of the government's move toward establishing uniform guidelines under the jurisdiction of two federal agencies for packaging.
In the week leading up to June 13, the Senate OK'd a truth-in-packaging bill that sought to regulate size and ingredient claims made on packaged goods. Regulations would allow the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration to enforce regulations in their respective areas, requiring four types of package information: product name and producer; a separate statement of net quantity; no qualifying statements or words used in conjunction with ingredient lists; and a statement of contents in conspicuous and legible type. Efforts to extend the guidelines to products other than edible ones, like paints, rope and ink, were defeated by a large Senate majority.
Today, ingredient lists and package sizes are taken for granted as packaging components. However, concern has arisen increasingly over the details that aren't included in those measurements and straight lists.
