Mr. Doodle can call his hat whatever he likes. Pasta makers, however, have long had to be very specific about what they call "macaroni." That's because since shortly after the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed in 1938, macaroni, along with some other foods people commonly prepared at home in those days, was exempted from the law's requirement that food manufacturers list their products' ingredients on the food label. Instead, the new act provided for "standards of identity"--prescribed recipes--for these foods, which the manufacturers had to follow.
"The law resulted in standardized recipes for such foods as dairy products, mayonnaise, ketchup, jelly, and orange juice," says Elizabeth Campbell, director of the programs and enforcement policy division in the Office of Food Labeling of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "When a consumer bought a jar of jelly she knew it would have at least 45 percent fruit, as the standard provided, because that's what it takes to make jelly," she explained. "It's roughly half fruit and half sugar. People knew that because they used to make it themselves."
Well, maybe so, but we're in the '90s now, and with the fast pace of today's lifestyles, homemade breads and jellies mostly exist in Grandma's memories. It can hardly be taken for granted that people still know what's in those standardized foods. And yet, more and more, health-conscious consumers and people with dietary restrictions want and need to know what's in the foods they buy.
So, the law is changing to catch up with the times. FDA now requires that ingredients for all standardized foods be listed on the label, the same as for all other foods. This is one of several provisions of a final rule published in the Jan. 6, 1993, Federal Register concerning declaration of ingredients on food labels. (The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires full ingredient labeling on all meat and poultry products, including standardized products, such as chili or sausages.)
