Whether it’s a delicious recipe that you’re selling among friends and family, or a product that you want to start testing in your local Farmer’s Market; it’s already in a pretty package and has your brand logo on it. Now it’s time to make an important decision, do I need to invest in a nutrition label?
First of all, let’s talk about the labels.
Food Labels
The goal of the information on food labels is to inform consumers what the food contains and to provide guidance in making healthier selections of processed foods. In some cases, all the numbers, percentages and complex sounding ingredients can make this task a little bit confusing.
The more clear we display the information of our product, the easier it will be for consumers to understand what they are buying, and feel more confident about their decisions. Listing ingredients, nutritional values and allergens are all essential in trying to maintain consumers’ health and safety.
The Nutrition Facts label is overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), An FDA compliant nutrition facts label contains information regarding the nutritional value, serving size, vitamins and minerals present in the food.
Nutrition Label
Nutrition labels should be placed next to the ingredients list within a box, this helps consumers know where to look for nutritional information.
It should accurately display the nutrition designations in the product. That means measuring the number of carbohydrates, protein, fats or any additional nutritional content and including them on the label. The nutrition facts should also include a serving size based on weight, volume or numerical content. The serving size should be placed near the top of the nutrition label, right below the bold “Nutrition Facts” heading.
Ingredients List
The Statement of Ingredients is a Complete breakdown of Ingredients (with sub-ingredients) listed by common or usual name in descending order of predominance by weight. An ingredient which itself contains two or more ingredients shall be designated in the statement of ingredients on the label of such food by declaring the established common or usual name of the ingredient followed by a parenthetical listing of all ingredients contained therein in descending order of predominance. Every ingredient you add to the product must be on this list; this not only for nutritional purposes but also for allergies and health issues.
Manufacturer or Importer Location
FDA Compliant food labels need to include the address of the manufacturer or the importer’s address for imported products. The manufacturer’s location is usually near the base of the product package; this should include the name, city, state and zip code.
Food Allergens
All food labels must identify in plain language whether the food contains any the major food allergens
Milk
Eggs
Fish
Crustacean shellfish
Tree nuts
Wheat
Peanuts
Soybeans
Sesame seeds
You can either put the allergen’s name in the ingredients list or you can place another line of text below with a “Contains” statement.
Nutrition and Health Claims
A “Nutrient Content Claim” is a word or phrase on a food package that makes a comment about the nutritional value of the food.. The terms are: free, low, reduced, fewer, high, less, more, lean, extra lean, good source, and light.
A “Health Claim” is a food label message that describes the relationship between a food component, such as fat, calcium, or fiber, and a disease or health-related condition. FDA has approved various health claims based on extensive scientific evidence and defined conditions under which the claims can be used (e.g., sodium and hypertension).
Visit our blog post about Nutrition and Health Claims to learn more about this subject.
This guide is a simplified version of the extensive US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food labeling guide. When developing FDA food labels, always verify that they meet the standards laid out and explained in detail in the FDA food label guide.
In Roybal Food Consulting we can provide all the information you’ll need to be certain about the decisions you’ll need to make in order to take the next step in being FDA Compliant and give your customers access to your product nutrition information.
When scaling up your business, having an FDA Compliant Nutrition Label is a must, that’s why we recommend having it from the beginning. It is very important to know what's really going on in your product nutrition-wise, so you can communicate this to your market or make the proper changes to your formulation (we can help you with that too!).
Get your Free Consultation today and let us know all the questions and concerns you have, we’ll be happy to help.
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