In the U.S. and Canada, the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) is used in nutrition labeling on food and dietary supplement products to indicate the daily intake level of a nutrient that is considered to be sufficient to meet the requirements of 97–98% of healthy individuals in every demographic in the United States. While developed for the US population, it has been adopted by Canada. The RDI is used to determine the Daily Value (DV) of foods, which is printed on nutrition facts labels (as %DV) in the United States and Canada, and is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and by Health Canada, respectively. The labels "high", "rich in", or "excellent source of" may be used for a food if it contains 20% or more of the DV. The labels "good source", "contains", or "provides" may be used on a food if it contains between 10% and 20% of the DV, and "low source" applies if the %DV is 5% or lower. The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) were a set of nutrition recommendations that evolved into both the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) system of nutrition recommendations (which still defines RDA values) and the RDIs used for food labeling. The first regulations governing U.S. nutrition labels specified a % U.S. RDA declaration based on the current RDA values, which had been published in 1968. Later, the % U.S. RDA was renamed the %DV and the RDA values that the %DVs were based on became the RDIs. The RDAs (and later the RDA values within the DRI) were regularly revised to reflect the latest scientific information, but although the nutrition labeling regulations were occasionally updated, the existing RDI values were not changed, so that until 2016, many of the DVs used on nutrition facts labels were still based on the outdated RDAs from 1968. In 2016, the Food and Drug Administration published changes to the regulations including updated RDIs and DVs based primarily on the RDAs in the current DRI.
Food labeling reference tables The reference dietary intake (RDI) gives numbers based on gender and age. The Daily Value (DV) is put on the labels of food products and is meant for the general population.
Daily Values The FDA issued a final rule on changes to the facts panel on May 27, 2016. The new values were published in the Federal Register. The original deadline to be in compliance was July 28, 2018, but on May 4, 2018, the FDA released a final rule that extended the deadline to January 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales, and by January 1, 2021, for manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales. During the first six months following the January 1, 2020 compliance date, the FDA worked cooperatively with manufacturers to meet the new Nutrition Facts label requirements, and did not focus on enforcement actions regarding these requirements during that time.
Labeling requirements As of 2024, the FDA requires manufacturers to display the contents and %DVs of certain nutrients on packaged food or supplement labels, with the instruction:
The Nutrition Facts label must list total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, total sugars, added sugars, protein, and certain vitamins and minerals. While the actual amount and %DV of vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium must be listed, other vitamins and minerals may be listed voluntarily by the manufacturer. However, they are required to list any vitamins and minerals that are added to the food or if a statement is made on the package labeling about their health effects or the amount contained in the food (for example, "high" or "low"). Similarly, the Supplement Facts label is required to list the same nutrients as the Nutrition Facts label when any of these nutrients are found in the supplement in an amount considered to be greater than zero.
The following table lists the DVs based on a caloric intake of 2000 kcal (8400 kJ), for adults and children four or more years of age, as of 2024.
Vitamins and choline
Minerals
History
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