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Congressional Control Over Agency Rulemaking: The Nutrition Labeling And Education Act's Hammer Provisions, Elizabeth Magill

All Faculty Scholarship

On November 8, 1990, President Bush signed into law the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA). The law embodied an aggressive agenda, dictating a comprehensive overhaul of food labels. The law clarified and enhanced the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) authority to require nutrition labels on foods, and established circumstances under which health claims could be made about the nutritional composition or value of foods. Culminating two years of activity on Capitol Hill, the consideration and passage of the bill coincided with a major initiative at the FDA to overhaul food labeling requirements.

The provision of the NLEA …