In an effort to re-establish the credibility of the food label, the FDA has established criteria for the use of such terms as lite, low-fat, reduced, etc. There are several core terms which are: free, low, lean, extra lean, high, good source, reduced, less, fewer, more, light.

Item is free of nutrient.

A food meets the definition for "low" if a person can eat large amounts of this item without exceeding the Daily Value for the nutrient.

Used to describe the fat content: less than 10 g of fat, 4 g of saturated fat, less than 95 mgs cholesterol. Extra lean foods have less than 5 g fat, less than 2 g saturated fat and less than 95 mgs of cholesterol.

Focus on nutrients for which higher levels are desirable. The "High source" food must contain 20% or more of the Daily Value in a serving. "Good source" means it must contain 10 to 19%.

These are termed "comparison claims" and compare a nutritionally altered food to the regular or "reference" food. A relative claim must include the reference food and the percentage difference.

The product contains 1/3 fewer calories or 1/2 the fat of the reference food...or the sodium content has been lowered by 50%.