New Nutrition Labels Proposed

Friday, January 12th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” Raw meat and poultry will carry nutrition labels similar to those already required on soup cans, cereal boxes and other processed-food packages, under rules the Clinton administration proposed Friday.

The labels, which will include the fat and nutrient content of the products, will have to be put on the packages or posted in the meat case.

``Labeling will allow consumers to easily and accurately obtain helpful nutrition information, such as fat, calorie and cholesterol content,'' said Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.

The Agriculture Department will take public comments on the labeling rules until April 18 before they are made final. Glickman leaves office in a week so the final decision on the rules will be up to the incoming Bush administration.

Many stores and processors already provide the labels voluntarily, but President Clinton said in May that they ought to become mandatory.

It is one of a series of food safety and nutrition initiatives that the administration has taken in its final year. Last week, the Agriculture Department said it would require processors to start disclosing the water content of raw chicken.

Clinton also has ordered new testing requirements for listeria, a pathogen in processed meats. The Food and Drug Administration has proposed expanding nutrition labels on processed foods to include artery-clogging trans fatty acids, a common ingredient in baked goods.

The labels will make it easier for shoppers to watch their diets and compare different types and cuts of meat and poultry, said Cyndi Thompson, a nutrition expert at the University of Arizona.

A cooked 3-ounce patty of 80 percent lean ground beef has 6 grams of saturated fat, 30 percent of the recommended daily limit for an average person. By comparison, a 93 percent lean patty has half as much fat. A 4-ounce serving of chicken with skin has 3 grams of saturated fat. Without the skin, it has 1 gram.

``People who don't eat meat aren't going to start eating meat and people who do eat it aren't going to stop,'' she said. ``What it will provide is, for people who are aware of labels and for people who go back and forth on monitoring their diets, an opportunity to have reliable information.''

About 55 percent of stores currently post nutrition information for meat. Under government regulations, the Agriculture Department said it had to require nutrition labeling if fewer than 60 percent of companies were doing it voluntarily.

Processed meats such as sausage and luncheon meats already must carry the labels.

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On the Net: USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service: http://www.fsis.usda.gov