Fair Packaging and Labeling Act

Abstract

During consideration of passage of the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, Congress showed concern about several things to which consumers were being subjected. These were things related to retail merchandizing of products of many kinds, not limited to food products alone. One was the lack of uniformity of statements on labels of the quantity of contents, or of the positioning of such information on the labels. Another was the proliferation of quantities, or sizes of packages, of the same kind (and sometimes the same brand) of retail product offered for sale. There was concern for the use of qualifying words or phrases, such as “giant size,” “large quart” and “super,” in association with statements of net quantities of contents, nonfunctional-slack-fill of packages, the use of “cents off” in conjunction with the prices of retail units and the lack of conspicuousness of pertinent information on certain product labels.