Retailers and manufacturers already cram a lot of consumer information onto limited packaging space — and policy pushes in Washington make it so they soon will have to display more.
The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative has propelled a long-debated issue to the front of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agenda: Should nutrition labels on the front of a package be mandatory, and what must they say?
Vending machine operators over a 20-machine threshold are required to display calories, and many comply by placing calorie values on the front of packages as part of the Facts Up Front label. Facts Up Front is an abbreviated, front-of-package nutrition label used voluntarily by the food and beverage industry.
Now, policies in Washington are reconsidering that model.
In January of this year, the FDA proposed a rule to require most foods to have a uniform “Nutrition Facts“ panel on the front of their packages. The move would replace voluntary Facts Up Front labels with a mandatory display of three key nutrition metrics: saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars.
The goal is to provide Americans, particularly those with limited nutrition knowledge, with “simplified” dietary information; the nutrition metrics would be qualified as “high,” “med” (medium), or “low.”
This is a sharp break from the existing nutrition labeling operators and consumer already know, which only uses quantifiable datalike percent of daily value and grams. Calories are left off the FDA proposed design — a MAHA priority to pivot consumer attention to processing and other nutrition indicators. Vending operators and food manufacturers say these shifts are likely to create compliance challenges, costs, and muddy consumer understanding. NAMA presented these issues in written feedback to the FDA; no calories may mean two separate front-of-package labels for vending operators. Calorie information remains a familiar point of reference for customers and a required disclosure for vending operators. Keeping calories in a consistent location supports both clarity and compliance.
Those priorities reflect years of experience with calorie disclosure and nutrition transparency. Operators know how customers read packages in unattended environments. Suppliers know how packaging cycles work and how often products move through multiple channels before reaching a machine. NAMA made sure the FDA heard these operational realities at the beginning of the process, not after decisions were made. That feedback will shape the next phase of agency review.
If finalized, nearly all packaged foods will be required to carry the FDA-designed front-of-package label within three to four years.
A Broader Shift
With MAHA continuing to shape the federal nutrition agenda, more labeling changes are expected. Several members of Congress have introduced legislation, even as states move faster than Washington (Louisiana and Texas have already passed labeling bills in 2025). In this rapidly evolving state, federal, and FDA regulatory landscape, NAMA is advocating for cohesive standards, providing clarity to members, and helping shape rules that fit real operating conditions.
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