Even in supermarkets with the most kaleidoscopic array of items — dozens of cereals, a wall of jams in glass jars, a parade of soup cans — there’s relatively little variation in how those foods are packaged. On the front of a can or box is the main label, containing the product name and maybe some zesty marketing copy, while nutrition information is organized in a standardized panel on the back. However, this hasn’t always been the case.
Food labeling saw its start in the United States in the early 20th century with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which largely focused on requiring food producers to label their products with accurate ingredients as a way to prevent the sale of adulterated or misbranded food and drugs. In the ensuing decades, standards became stricter; by 1940, federal regulations required food labels to include the name and address of the manufacturer and distributor, in addition to an accurate statement of the ingredients.
