Oh, Beautiful

The Hispanic culture is one of the bigger "minority" groups in the US. Because of our proximity to Mexico and Central America, a lot of the immigrants in our country are from Spanish/Latin American descent. While we claim "English" as our main language, the US has never declared a national language and therefore those who cannot speak English fluently still have a right to be in our country. In some cases, companies, publications, public services and the government have taken strides to make sure those who cannot speak English (most often those who speak Spanish) are able to function in our society.

This includes, but is certainly not limited to street signs in Spanish, the driver's test in Spanish, even the pool I worked at in college had a Spanish version of our rules and regulations. What caught my eye today was a Pringles can that we gave a coworker. The can had not only the nutritional information but also the same information in Spanish. As I investigated other labels, I noticed that they were in English and that was all. There was no Spanish on the boxes whatsoever.

I looked up the FDA requirements for language use on food labels. If we have so many non-English speaking residents in the US, why don't all the foods have some Spanish on them? We don't want anyone to get an allergic reaction to something. The FDA says "Since certain consumers may not understand English, it is the intent of the regulation that they be furnished the mandatory label information in a language they can understand." The regulation goes on to say that common words such as "antipasto" do not need to be translated because that word is used in English as well. So again we have an issue of context.

Why did Pringles decide to use Spanish translation on their label and no other language? The US is open to ALL immigrants and while Hispanics are our biggest group, Italians, Middle-Eastern, and French consumers might also enjoy a can of Pringles every now and then. And where does the FDA draw the line on what must be included in another language on a label? There is already a ton of information labels already, do we need to translate it all?

Here is the FDA regulation if you would like to look at it.