October Food Industry Newsletter
In This Issue
GOT CLAIMS? The Do's and Don'ts of Labeling Organic Trends FDA, Food Symbols and the CSPI
Industry Recap Good Manufacturing Practices Serving Sizes One of the Industry's First
GOT CLAIMS? - There are many different groups of claims that your product can qualify for. Below is a list outlining some of the claim options available to you:
Nutrient Content Claims – These are claims that promote the individual nutrient:
-Example Claim: Fat Free = Less than 0.5g per reference amount and per labeled serving
Relative (or Comparative) Claims – These are claims that compare nutrient values for a similar food:
-Example Claim: “Reduced - 50% Less Calories than the leading brand"
Health Claims – These are qualifying nutrients that allow a food manufacturer to promote the health benefits of their product:
-Example Claim: “Diets low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure, a disease associated with many factors.”
Food manufacturers using a reference nutrient value as a basis for a claim are required to provide specific information upon where the nutrient value was derived. This information must be available on request to consumers and appropriate regulatory officials.
For more information click here
Industry Recap 2007 - A year is almost approaching since the Allergen Labeling law came into effect. It's important that your ingredient labels are accurate and declare any known Allergens. It is equally important to declare any potential cross contamination that may occur from equipment sharing and transportation.
Take a moment to re-read the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) rules and regulations.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Labeling - With industry advancements and regulation updates it’s hard to keep abreast of change. LabelCalc’s experts research the industry to compile a list of ‘featured’ items. Click below on our 'Do’s and Don’ts of Labeling' to learn more about Allergens, Claims and Ingredient Statements:
For more information click here
Did You Know? - That Serving Sizes used to be up to the discretion of the food manufacturer, but now Serving Sizes are more uniform and reflect the amounts people actually eat. These amounts are based on FDA established lists, called "Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed per Eating Occasion."
- The Reference Amount for 1 Cookie = 30g
- The Reference Amount Soup (all varieties) = 245g
LabelCalc has a built-in Reference Amount calculator to assist their clients in maintaining the FDA established values.
Organic Online Poll - The Organic Industry is growing at an exponential rate recent surveys show. Last year the Organic industry carved out almost a third of all retail food and beverage sales. The Organic Trade Association's (OTA) 2007 Manufacturer Survey demonstrates this growth by figures exceeding last year's forecasts of $16bn
“Those Who Eat a Lot of Organic Food Also Think It Tastes Better and is Worth the Extra Cost” a recent online poll by Harris Interactive shows. Between September 11 and 18, 2007 among 2,392 adults (aged 18 and over) went online and took the poll.
The poll also found that some segments of the population are more likely to buy organic food regularly:
-
College graduates (11 percent)
-
Liberals (11 percent)
-
Westerners (10 percent)
-
Echo Boomers (those aged 18-30; 10 percent)
-
Gen Xers (those aged 31-42; 9 percent)
About a third (36%) of the public, including almost all (91%) frequent organic food buyers, believes that "organic food is much better for you" and that "the extra expense is worth it to have better food". A smaller 29 percent of the public believe it is "a waste of money as it is no better for you than conventional foods". Fully 36 percent are not sure.
The GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) Background - Since the mid-1800s food safety has been monitored and regulated by local and state officials. These same principles are now under a Federal consumer protection law, that the FDA now refers to as the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP's). GMP's describe the methods, equipment, facilities and controls for producing processed food. Take a moment to read the timeline and review the current GMP's.
Click here to review the current GMP's
FDA, Food Symbols and the CSPI - The talk of adding symbols to packaging has been a long standing debate. Already in Europe the Food Standards Agency support symbols on packaged foods and have since named this process, 'Traffic Lights.' On September 10th & 11th 2007, the Food and Drug Administration held a public hearing concerning the use of symbols to communicate nutrition information on food labels. And in 2006 the consumer watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) submitted a petition asking the FDA to consider a national system of symbols. Kraft, PepsiCo and General Mills have already begun labeling some of their products.
Here at LabelCalc we found the following links to be interesting:
List to the FDA Public Hearing:
Helpful Marketing Tip - Why not add your product’s Nutrition Facts Panel to your company website. That way a customer can see the nutrition content of each of your products. Research shows that purchasing decisions are influenced by how healthy a product is.
LabelCalc.com provides the food manufacturing industry’s only online one-stop solution for creating accurate, FDA-compliant Nutrition Facts Labels. Instead of sending ingredients to a lab or third party for analysis, users enjoy the ease and convenience of logging into their account at any time, from any place in the world.
LabelCalc is so simple to use all I had to do was log in and enter my ingredients in a few easy steps and I immediately had my nutrition information I am so Impressed!
Not only was the application easy to use and extremely convenient, the support staff was amazing! I am beyond pleased!"
-Fromagerie Belle Chevre
Would like to have a topic covered in our next newsletter? Please email us at: ideas@labelcalc.com, or call (888) 804-0001