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Should Snacks Have Warning Labels?

How would you feel about seeing a big warning sign plastered across the front of a bag of your favorite potato chips? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering requiring labels on foods that contain high levels of salt, fat, or sugar. Countries including France and Chile already require warnings on the front of certain foods. Supporters of these labels say that they encourage people to make healthy choices. But critics say warning labels may create unnecessary fear and stress in customers. Do you agree that packaged foods should have warning labels? 

Yes

Food distributors should be honest about what they are selling. These labels can be extremely helpful to people who have medical conditions that require them to manage how much fat, sugar, or salt they eat. Even if you don’t need to watch your diet for medical reasons, easy-to-read warning labels can empower you to make informed choices about what you eat. Right now, the nutritional labels on the back of packaged foods provide numbers and percentages of ingredients like sodium or trans fats, but they can be hard to read and difficult to understand. A warning label on the front of a package would be a clear and easy way to know which foods to avoid or to eat in moderation. More information for consumers is a good thing, as it helps us make more thoughtful decisions.

—Bruce Matos, Connecticut

No

Warning labels on food packaging are unnecessary. For one thing, they might make people feel guilty about eating foods that are fine to enjoy in moderation. These feelings can lead to unhealthy relationships with food, especially for teens. In adolescence, we are still learning to understand our bodies and develop a balanced view of nutrition. Blunt warning labels on the front of food packages may provoke unnecessary anxiety for teens and distort our perspectives on nutrition and health. Additionally, peoples’ bodies and nutritional needs are different. Someone who leads a very active lifestyle may need to eat more calories than someone who doesn’t move around much. Warning labels could be easy to misunderstand and are not worth the risk they pose to our relationships with food.

—Nadine Chehadeh, California

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