"Healthy" on a food label is an FDA-defined claim. Under the current rule, some foods qualify as they are: a food made only of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy, lean meat, seafood, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, nuts or seeds, with nothing added but water. Peanut butter that's only peanuts can say healthy. Anything else has to pass two tests per reference amount, or per 50 grams if its reference amount is 50 grams or 3 tablespoons or less. First, it has to contain a set amount of a food group: for nuts and seeds, a 1-ounce equivalent, which is half an ounce of nuts. Second, it has to stay under limits on added sugars, sodium and saturated fat that vary by group: for nut and seed products, added sugars no more than 2% of the daily value, sodium no more than 10%, and saturated fat no more than 5%, not counting what the nuts bring themselves. And like any claim, it means a Nutrition Facts panel. In the example below, an Arkansas nut butter maker checks which jars can carry the word.
The short version
- Foods made only of foundation foods, such as nuts, fruit or whole grains, with only water added, qualify.
- Other foods need a food group amount and stay under added sugar, sodium and saturated fat limits.
- Small reference amounts, 50 g or 3 tablespoons or less, are measured per 50 g.
- Nut and seed butters: 2 tablespoons, so per 50 g.
- Nuts and seeds: added sugars 2% DV, sodium 10% DV, saturated fat 5% DV not counting the nuts' own.
- Any claim means a Nutrition Facts panel.
- TaroStack keeps each recipe by weight, so the salt, honey and oil in a batch are the recipe's. More below.
The limits for nut and seed products, per 50 g
| Test | Limit | In grams or milligrams |
|---|---|---|
| Nuts or seeds | At least a 1 oz equivalent | Half an ounce of nuts |
| Added sugars | No more than 2% of the daily value | 1 g |
| Sodium | No more than 10% of the daily value | 230 mg |
| Saturated fat, not counting the nuts' own | No more than 5% of the daily value | 1 g |
Other food groups have their own amounts and limits in the same rule. The fat and sodium claims are in fat free claim and low sodium claim.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| Foods that qualify as they are | Made only of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy, lean meat, seafood, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, nuts or seeds, with nothing added but water (21 CFR 101.65(d)(3)(i)) |
| Other foods | A food group equivalent and limits on added sugars, sodium and saturated fat; per 50 g for reference amounts of 50 g or 3 tablespoons or less (101.65(d)(3)(ii)) |
| Nut and seed products | 1 oz equivalent; added sugars 2% DV, sodium 10% DV, saturated fat 5% DV excluding what's inherent in the nuts (101.65(d)) |
| Reference amount | Nut and seed butters, 2 tablespoons (21 CFR 101.12) |
| Daily values | Added sugars 50 g, sodium 2,300 mg, saturated fat 20 g (21 CFR 101.9(c)) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: five nut butters
Red Oak Nut Butters, the made-up nut butter maker in Little Rock, Arkansas, I use in these examples, was asked by a grocer which jars could go under its "healthy" shelf tag. Per 2-tablespoon, 32 g serving, and per 50 g:
| Butter | Added sugars | Sodium | Added saturated fat | Per 50 g | Healthy? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peanuts only | 0 g | 5 mg | 0 g | Yes: only nuts | |
| Peanuts and salt | 0 g | 110 mg | 0 g | 172 mg sodium | Yes |
| Honey roasted | 3 g | 95 mg | 0 g | 4.7 g added sugars | No: over 1 g |
| No-stir, with palm oil | 1 g | 140 mg | 1.5 g | 1.6 g sugars, 2.3 g added saturated fat | No: both over |
| Almonds only | 0 g | 0 mg | 0 g | Yes: only nuts |
Three jars qualify, and the salted one by a margin: 172 mg of sodium per 50 g against 230. The honey roasted fails on added sugars, since even 3 grams a serving is over 1 gram per 50 g, and the no-stir fails on sugar and on the palm oil's saturated fat. The grocer's tag went on the three, and their labels got Nutrition Facts panels. The jars' costs are in nut butter business plan.
Get the checker
Download the healthy claim checker. One sheet: for each nut or seed butter, whether it's only nuts or seeds and water, and its added sugars, sodium and added saturated fat per reference amount; the amounts per 50 g and whether it can say healthy fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The claim is true for the recipe on the label. A heavier hand with the salt, or a switch to a peanut butter base with added oil, and the healthy jars aren't, which only the batch record shows.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each recipe by weight, so the salt, honey and oil in a batch are the recipe's.
Recipes by weight. Each butter is its own recipe, with its nuts, salt, honey or oil by weight.
Batches by lot. Each batch records which ingredient lots it used and how many jars it made.
Recalls. If a batch was made from the wrong recipe, one report shows every customer who got it.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which recipe a batch followed | Remembered | Each batch from its recipe |
| Salt used in a batch | Not recorded | From the recipe and batch |
| Who got a wrong batch | Invoices | One recall report |
Recipes, batches and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.