摘要：Every day, food producers and processors provide products consumed by 250 million people in this country. Each of those consumers is affected by the content of their foods. With advances in food production, processing, and distribution technology, the role of food labels has become increasingly important. Current research and views related to food labeling issues were discussed at a conference held in Washington, D.C. on March 20-21, 2003. This article gives an overview of food-labeling issues and summarizes the research findings presented at the conference. Issues discussed in this paper include the impact of food labels on consumer purchase decisions, the role of the private versus the public sector in providing credibility to marketing claims, the costs and benefits of voluntary and mandatory labels, and the implications of country-of-origin labeling.
