February 27/Chicago/PRWEB -- Nearly 20 years after the Nutrition Facts labels were put on the back of nearly every food and beverage in stores, interest in reading the label has steadily waned among U.S. households, according to The NPD Group. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing updates for the Nutrition Facts label to make it more relevant to today’s consumers, but according to NPD’s ongoing food and beverage market research, consumers read the labels when they first appeared, but as time went on, many stopped checking the label for what’s in their food.

Through its National Eating Trends service, NPD asks consumers their level of agreement with the statement, “I frequently check labels to determine whether the foods I buy contain anything I’m trying to avoid.” In 1990, after the Nutritional Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) was passed, 65% of consumers completely or mostly agreed with the statement, that percentage decreased to 60% in 1994 shortly before the Nutrition Facts labels began appearing on food packaging, and rose to 64% in 1995 after the labels were on food packaging. Since 1995, the percentages of consumers in agreement have ranged from a high of 61% to a low of 48% in 2013.