You’ve worked hard caring about and developing your food product. You know what’s in it and you selected the best ingredients because it matters to you what goes into your customers bodies. But just because you think it’s “healthy” doesn’t necessarily mean you can label your product that way without knowing the law.

Whether you can call your product “healthy” depends on a number of factors. The first thing to figure out is what laws apply to your product. If you import food into the United States, you are most likely governed by the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act and subject to the FDA’s definition of “healthy.” Most processed and packaged foods (excluding primarily meat and poultry products) will fall into this category. 

The term “healthy” -- or any similar term -- can only be used if your food meets certain nutrient requirements for total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and certain other nutrients. Note that if your food does not meet the low fat requirement, the FDA w...