Fruit & Vegetable Manufacturers NAICS 3114

May 23, 2025 - New Labeling Requirements

• The Food and Drug Administration is requiring new labeling requirements for food manufacturers, Food Manufacturing reports. Two new rules – the final "Food Labeling: Nutrient Content Claims; Definition of Term 'Healthy'" and the still-to-be finalized Front-of-Package (FOP) nutrition label – are opportunities for fruit and vegetable manufacturers to tout the healthfulness of their products. As of April, manufacturers could voluntarily use the "Healthy" claim on packaging if the product contains a certain amount of food from at least one food group/subgroup such as fruits and vegetables, as recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and it adheres to specified saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars limits. The compliance date is February 2028. The FOP nutrition label (aka "Nutrition Info box) proposed in January would provide information on saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars by showing if the food has low, medium, or high levels of these nutrients.
• Were the Trump administration to succeed in deporting millions of people living in the US illegally there would be fewer available workers to pick fruits and vegetables and prepare the food for shipment and distribution, Food Manufacturing (FM) reports. Moreover, domestic production of food could decline, leading to supply shortages, higher costs, and more imports for food manufacturers and consumers. Approximately half of US farmworkers are in the country without legal authorization, according to the USDA. FM notes that some immigrant farmworkers are skilled supervisors who make decisions about planting and harvesting, while others know how to use and maintain tractors, loaders, diggers, rakers, fertilizer sprayers, irrigation systems, and other machines crucial to farm operations. Were they suddenly removed from the US, consumers would see an increase in food costs at grocery stores and restaurants.

• A new study has found widespread human exposure to thousands of chemicals used in food packaging, Food Manufacturing reports. The study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, identified over 3,600 chemicals used in food packaging and other food contact chemicals (FCCs) that have been found in human urine, blood, and breast milk and reveals significant gaps in biomonitoring and toxicity data. “Our research establishes a link between food contact chemicals, exposure, and human health,” said Dr. Birgit Geueke, adding, “It also highlights those chemicals that have been overlooked in biomonitoring studies so far.” The researchers were surprised by the high number of FCCs, for which some evidence of human exposure exists, and said their study shows there needs to be more research about the toxicity of and exposure to many chemicals and regulations around their use in food packaging.
• Employment by fruit and vegetable manufacturers grew 1.7% in March compared to a year ago, while average industry wages rose 4.2% over the same period to $22.83 per hour, easing from their record high in January, per the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Payrolls for produce manufacturers are rising amid relatively weak pricing power and slumping sales. Food industry sales fell by 2.5% year over year in the fourth quarter but rose 5.7% from Q3, according to Census Bureau data. Looking ahead, sales for the US fruit and vegetable manufacturers industry are forecast to grow at a 1.6% compounded annual rate from 2025 to 2029, slower than the growth of the overall economy, according to the latest forecast by the Interindustry Economic Research Fund.