Comparison of meat and vegetable pizza (regular crust) with spinach souffle based on the FDA Nutrition Facts label and the proposed Nutrition Facts label

The proposed Nutrition Facts label provides three numeric scores from 0 to 100 to show the nutritional quality of each food from the three aspects of negative nutrients (to limit intake of any negative nutrient), positive nutrients (to achieve adequate intake of any positive nutrient), and a combination of positive and negative nutrients (to achieve adequate intake of any positive nutrient and to limit intake of any negative nutrient). A higher score is preferred to a lower score. According to the proposed Nutrition Facts label, the nutritional quality score based on negative nutrients, the nutritional quality score based on positive nutrients, and the nutritional quality score based on the combination of positive and negative nutrients for spinach souffle are higher than those scores for meat and vegetable pizza. So, according to the proposed Nutrition Facts label, spinach souffle is a better food choice than meat and vegetable pizza. The FDA Nutrition Facts label cannot help consumers choose between these two foods due to the lack of nutritional quality scores or symbols. Meat and vegetable pizza is high (excellent source) in copper, phosphorus, protein, riboflavin, selenium, thiamin, vitamin B₁₂, and zinc and a source (good source) of calcium, dietary fiber, iron, vitamin A, vitamin B₆, and vitamin E based on the FDA regulations. However, consuming meat and vegetable pizza as much as the Daily Value (DV) for energy (based on the reference energy intake of 2,000 calories) results in receiving 53.3% of the DV for vitamin A, 54.5% of the DV for vitamin E, 54.6% of the DV for iron, 56.9% of the DV for dietary fiber, 63.6% of the DV for vitamin B₆, and 84.7% of the DV for calcium. So, meat and vegetable pizza is unsuitable for achieving the DVs for vitamin A, vitamin E, iron, dietary fiber, vitamin B₆, and calcium based on the proposed Nutrition Facts label. Also, consuming meat and vegetable pizza as much as half the DV for energy (1,000 calories) does not result in receiving the DVs for vitamin B₁₂, protein, copper, thiamin, riboflavin, selenium, zinc, and phosphorus, but consuming meat and vegetable pizza as much as the DV for energy (2,000 calories) results in receiving the DVs for these eight positive nutrients. Thus, according to the proposed Nutrition Facts label, meat and vegetable pizza is not high in vitamin B₁₂, protein, copper, thiamin, riboflavin, selenium, zinc, and phosphorus, but it is a source of these eight positive nutrients.

Suggested citation: Forouzesh, Abed; Forouzesh, Fatemeh; Samadi Foroushani, Sadegh; Forouzesh, Abolfazl. Nutrition labels of foods: friends or foes in public health? Critical vulnerabilities of U.S. FDA Nutrition Facts label and invention of a reliable Nutrition Facts label. Food Production, Processing and Nutrition 2025;7:28. DOI: 10.1186/s43014-025-00306-3