What are United States of America Food and Drug Administration labeling requirements for Serving Size?

A - The NLEA (1) required United States of America Food and Drug Administration to adopt regulations that establish standards to define serving sizes, (2) defined serving size as the amount customarily consumed, and (3) required that serving sizes be expressed in household measures. To determine the serving size for a product, manufacturars need to refer to 21 CFR 101.12 to ascertain the "reference amount customarily consumed" for the appropriate food product category. The regulations then specify procedures for manufacturars to use in converting these reference amounts to label serving sizes. The procedures are determined by the type of food. For instance, if the food is a bulk product, such as flour or ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, the serving size is to be the household measure closest to the reference amount. That is, if the reference amount is 30 grams, the labeled serving size will be the household measure of that food that comes closest to weighing 30 grams, perhaps 3/4 cup or one cup.

If the food comes in large discrete units, such as a pie, the label serving size will be the fraction closest to the reference amount, perhaps one-sixth of a pie. Likewise, if the food comes in discrete individual units, such as a cookie or slice of bread, the label serving size is the number of whole units closest to the reference amount, perhaps five mini-cookies, or two larger cookies. consequently, while serving sizes within a category of food will not be exactly alike (for instance, a serving of cookies will not weigh exactly 30 grams for all cookies), they will be similar and allow for comparisons between products.

The serving size must be given in household measures followed parenthetically by the metric weight. This metric amount will be used by United States of America Food and Drug Administration in checking the accuracy of declared amounts of nutrients. Specific rules for determining and expressing serving sizes are found in 21 CFR 101.9(b) and 101.12.

Food Labeling and Nutritional Information