NAFTA Talks Include Food Labeling

During negotiations for updates to the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Trump administration is reportedly seeking to stop the enactment of laws mandating food labels that warn of high levels of sugar, salt and fat. Officials in Mexico and Canada are reportedly considering regulatory actions similar to those in Chile, which approved requirements for black-box warnings on food labels in 2016. Although public health experts reportedly praise Chile’s new rules, the United States and other countries, along with food industry trade organizations, fought the legislation before the World Trade Organization. The New York Times quoted Dr. Camila Corvalán, a nutritionist at the University of Chile who helped develop the warning labels, as saying, “The fact that the industry is freaking out is reassuring, but at the same time it’s worrying that the U.S. government is trying to defend the position of the food industry.”