Please change the nutritional information labeling regulations to reflect fluctuations in vitamin/mineral levels over time.
Why is this important?
The vitamin content of foods decreases significantly each day following the removal from their life source (e.g. the vine, the animal, etc.). Therefore, for products like juice, each day the product is in transit, and each day it remains on a store shelf before purchase, it is losing nutritional value.
However, Nutritional Fact labeling does not reflect this reality:
"Compliance with the nutrition labeling regulations is based on the date the product was labeled, not the date the product is offered for entry into interstate commerce." from the Nutritional Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) Requirements (8/94 - 2/95)
This being the case, labels should include a disclaimer, such as:
"This product will retain at least 95% of the listed nutritional values until the 'use by' date," or something similar.
This way consumers will understand that these nutritional values are not static numbers, and that the products they buy may have a reduced nutritional value if they consume them after the 'use by' date.
