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FOOD LABELING1124

Steven C Seideman

Extension Food Processing Specialist

Cooperative Extension Service

University of Arkansas

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INTRODUCTION

• A FOOD LABEL has 2 important functions;

1) It tells the customer about the product in a positive manner.

2) It must comply with federal or state regulations to add uniformity to food labeling and prevent consumer deception.

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Display Panels

• Food packaging has three types of display panels as defined by the regulations;

1)The Principle Display Panel (PDP) is the package panel that faces the purchaser and communicates what is in the box, can or jar.

2) The Alternative Principle Panel is the same as the PDP but allows more than one way to position the package on the shelf.

3) The Information Panel (IP) is directly to the right of the PDP or on the back of the package.

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What Goes Where on a Label

Information• Identity of Contents• Ingredient Listing• Name and address of

manufacturer, packer or distributor

• Quantity of Contents• Nutritional Label

Location• PDP• PDP or IP• PDP or IP

• PDP• PDP or IP

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RAZORBACK BRAND

CUPCAKES

Net wt. 9 oz (310 g)

Primary Display Panel

Information Panel

(On side or back)

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RAZORBACK BRAND CUPCAKES

Distributed by RazorBack Foods; 315 Young Ave; Fayetteville AR 72704

INGREDIENTS: Wheat flour, eggs …..

Nutritional Facts

………………...

………………..

Information Panel on back

(can also be on right side)

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Parts of a Food Label

• There are basically 4 to 5 parts to an acceptable food label:

1) Name of the Product – On PDP2) Quantity of Product- On PDP3) Name of the Manufacturer or Distributor4) List of Ingredients5) If USDA inspected, must have inspection

seal.

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RAZORBACK BRAND

CUPCAKES

Net wt. 9 oz (310 g)

Identity of Contents

Quantity of Contents

Front of Package

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RAZORBACK BRAND CUPCAKES

Distributed by RazorBack Foods; 315 Young Ave; Fayetteville AR 72704

INGREDIENTS: Wheat flour, eggs …..

Nutritional Facts

………………...

………………..

Ingredient Listing Name and address of manufacturer, packer or distributor.

Nutritional Label

Back of Package

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Other Label Parts

• Depending on the product and situation, labels may also be required to contain the following;

1) Nutritional Labeling2) Code Dates and Handling instructions3) Number of Servings4) Sulfites Declaration5) Percentage Juice6) Allergens Statement7) Although not required, a food label usually contains a

UPC code.

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Let’s now go through each of these parts individually

discussing each with more detail

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Federal Requirements

• Food labeling requirements fall into one of two categories depending on the amount of meat;

1)Food products containing 5% or more meat or poultry fall under USDA inspection and the regulations can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 7.

2)All other foods are under Food & Drug Administration (FDA) jurisdiction, and their regulations are contained in CFR Title 21.

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Basic Requirements

• A food label gives a written declaration of information for the consumer. Certain items of interest to the consuming public MUST be on all labels.

Identity-Quantity- Responsibility –Ingredients*Name of the product *Amount of product *Manufacturer or distributor *What is in the product

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Food Labeling

• Big concept is that the consumer has the right to know about the product they are purchasing.

• Food labeling also protects the manufacturer

1)Quality problems- code dates

2)Lawsuits concerning allergens

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NAME OF THE PRODUCT• The name of the product is the common or usual name of

the product shown in bold letters and is a statement of identity.

• Some foods are specifically defined in the regulations through “standards of identity” and must be identified by a standard name.

• The name of the product must appear on the principle display panel.

• Foods not covered under the standards of identity or a common and usual name are called non-standardized foods. A descriptive name should be used for a non-standardized product to accurately identify or describe the product

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Standards of Identify

• All food regulations, whether USDA or FDA-controlled can be found at the following website:

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/topics/food.html

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USDA Regulations

• Within the website, all Title 9 listings cover meat and poultry products;

• Part 317 covers labeling

• Parts 200-592 covers all the regulations

• Part 319 covers Standards of Identity of various meat and poultry products.

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FDA Regulations

• Within the website, Title 21 covers all non-meat , FDA-controlled products.

• Part 101 covers food labeling• Part 102 covers the common or usual name

of non-standardized foods.• Parts 114 to 169 covers various products for

which standards of identity have been established.

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Product Name Examples

• Barbecue - Has a standard of identity. The meat must be smoked over the coals of hardwood and must have a 30% weight loss during cooking. For meat to be called “Barbecue”, it must have the 2 requirements or it is not barbecue.

• You can call it “Beef with BBQ sauce” which means the meat portion is not BBQ.

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Qualifying Statement

• Some food products, mainly USDA inspected products, may contain a “Qualifying Statement” immediately below the name of the product to explain how the product differs from the standard of identity.

• For Example Smoked Sausage Made with Turkey

• In this case, the product name is “Smoked Sausage” but smoked sausage is traditionally made with beef and pork, so a qualifying statement is added (Made with Turkey).

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Quantity or Contents Statement

• This is an accurate statement of how much is inside the package or container.

• This declaration must appear on the principle display panel and, if applicable, the alternate principle display panel.

• It is generally stated as “ Net Contents”.• Contents should be in the traditional manner (e.g. lbs, oz,

etc.) followed by the metric unit (grams, liters, kilograms). Net Wt 1 lb (454 g)

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Name of the Manufacturer

• The name of the manufacturer, packer or a statement indicating “Distributed by_____” is the declaration of responsibility.

• The business address must accompany the name of the responsible firm and include city, state and zip code and must appear on the primary display panel or the information panel.

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List of Ingredients

• The list of ingredients in the product appears in descending order of predominance by weight.

• The ingredient statement may be on either the principle display panel or an information panel.

• Foods using other standardized foods such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, etc. as an ingredient must disclose the contents of the standardized food in the ingredient statement (see within parenthesis).

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Standardized Product within an Ingredient Statement

• For example;

BARBECUE SAUCE

Ingredients; water, tomatoes, ketchup

(tomato concentrate, high fructose corn

syrup, distilled vinegar, garlic powder),

salt, sugar.

25Red Beans and Rice Product

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Ingredient Declarations

• There are many regulations governing how and what is declared in the ingredient list that is beyond the scope of this module.

• It is best to review the regulations for each ingredient used in your product.

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Some General Ingredient Declaration Rules

• With the exception of onions, garlic and celery, the term “spices” can be used in the ingredient statement without listing all the spices used.

• Flavorings and colorings should distinguish between those which are natural versus artificial.

• Certified colors and protein hydrolysates must be declared by their common or usual name.

• Food characterized by a particular flavor may require a qualifying name along with the product name ( i.e. “Artificially Flavored”).

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Ingredient Declaration

• When chemical preservatives are used, a declaration of the chemical by its common or usual name and its function can be required.

• Typical functional qualifications include “preservative”, “to retard spoilage”, “a mold inhibitor”, “to help protect flavor”, and “to promote color retention”.

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OTHER LABEL REQUIREMENTS

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NUTRITIONAL LABELING

• The Nutritional Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) of 1990 provided for a mandate for the food industry to provide food nutrient data on food packages.

• Detailed information on the NLEA regulations can be found in ”A Food Labeling Guide” at http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flg-toc.html.

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Parts of a Nutritional Label

• Serving Size- Serving size is based on a reference amount which is defined in the regulations. In most cases, if a retail unit’s contents are less than 200% of the reference amount, the container would be labeled as 1 serving. There are many other rules and exemptions in the calculation of a serving size.

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Parts of the Nutritional Label

• Required nutrients- There are fourteen (14) nutrients or nutrient facts that must be specified on all nutritional labels.

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Fourteen Required Nutrients

• Calories• Calories from Fat• Total Fat• Saturated Fat• Cholesterol• Sodium• Dietary fiber

• Total Carbohydrates• Sugar• Protein• Vitamin A• Vitamin C• Calcium • Iron

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Nutritional Label

• The nutritional label may be located on either the principle display panel or on the information panel of the package.

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HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS

• Perishable products must give handling instructions such as “Keep Refrigerated” or Keep Frozen”.

• Meat, meat products and poultry or poultry products that are not further processed according to USDA-FSIS time/temperature requirements for a ready-to-eat products must carry “Safe Handling Instructions” as shown in the following slide.

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Statement of “Imitation”

• If the product is an imitation of the real thing, it must be stated on the label.

• An example would be cottage cheese-like food made from soybeans or other imitation dairy products where milk is absent or is used only as a minor ingredient.

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Sulfites

• Sulfides used in foods and beverages such as wines, if permitted to contain sulfites, must declare the presence of this additive if the level is greater than 10ppm.

• The declaration must be on the principle display panel “Contains sulfites”.

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Percentage Juice

• Any fruit or vegetable beverage or one purporting to be a fruit or vegetable beverage must declare the percentage juice content on the information panel or principle display panel.

• Examples are; “Contains 10% Apple Juice” “Contains no Apple Juice”

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GRADES AND INSPECTION

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Grades and Inspection

• The two names (grades and inspection) are totally different.

• An “ Inspection Logo” like on meat and poultry products means that the product was processed and packaged under continuous inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Animals and carcasses are inspected to guarantee the customer that the final food product is safe and wholesome.

• A “Grade” is a designate for quality such as the beef grades of Prime, Choice, Select, etc.

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Grades and Inspection

• Grades can be company grades such as Fancy Grade, Grade A or whatever is known as house grades.

• A company may voluntarily have the USDA grade their product using USDA standards. If this is done, the grades will have a “U.S.” in front of them. For example “U.S. Grade1 or USDA Grade A.

• As a rule of thumb, the lower the letter grade or number, the more nearly perfect is a product

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Grades and Inspection

• Lets talk about eggs as an example;

Grade A Jumbo eggs

The Grade A means that the eggs will contain fewer spots, be less dirty or have less stained shells and be more uniform in shape than Grade B eggs.

Jumbo refers to the size of the eggs.

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UPC Code

• UPC stands for Universal Product Code.• It is a bar code and number that distinguishes one

product from another.• The UPC code consists of 10 digits and vertical lines.

The first five digits name the manufacturer and the last five digits name the product (peas, ketchup, etc.).

• It is not a government requirement to have a UPC code, but most retailers demand them for use in pricing a product and for inventory control purposes.

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Generic Foods

• Foods without fancy labels (no pictures, no recipes and usually black lettering on a white background) are termed “generic foods”.

• As a general rule, these products are overruns and are a way for the manufacturer to turn overstock merchandise into cash.

• Sometimes as much as 50% savings can be realized by purchasing these products since they have no “marketing” funds involved.

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Irradiated Foods

• Food products that are irradiated, must bear the irradiation logo and the term “ Treated with radiation” or similar statement.

• Foods are irradiated to improve shelf-life.• Irradiation controls sprouting in potatoes as well

as microorganisms, particularly pathogens.• Spices that are irradiated do not have to bear the

label. Most spices are either irradiated or treated with ethylene dioxide to reduce the bacterial load.

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Descriptive Terminology and Health Claims

• The terminology of nutrition and health claims is specifically defined under the NLEA (Nutritional Labeling Education Act) of 1990.

• The words “lite”, ”lean”, “No cholesterol”, “low sodium” , “fresh” or ”reduced salt” all have descriptions specifically spelled out for them by the USDA or FDA.

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Health Claims

• Health claims can sometimes be very desirable on a label.

• Foods having a scientifically proven and regulatory approved relationship to cancer, heart disease, hypertension or other health condition can be labeled as such.

• Most people have opinions about how foods can benefit them, however, nutritional claims must be substantiated on hard scientific facts.

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Labeling for Allergens

• True food allergies are the body’s rejection of a foreign protein.

• There almost has to be a protein involved.

• Hay fever in humans is a true allergy caused by protein-containing pollen and animal hair and feathers.

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Typical Symptoms of Food Allergies

• Gastrointestinal

*Nausea

*Vomiting

*Abdominal pain

*Diarrhea• Systemic

*Anaphylactic shock

• Cutaneous

*Urticaria

*Angioderma

*Atropic dermatitis• Respiratory

*Rhinitis

*Laryngeal edema

*Asthma

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Top Eight Others

90%PeanutTree nutsMilkEggSoyFishShellfishWheat

10%Hundreds of others

Food Allergies Food Allergies PrevalencePrevalence

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Ingredients Derived from Commonly Allergic Sources

• Edible oils• Hydrolyzed proteins• Lecithin• Flavors• Lactose• Starch

• Gelatin• Lysozyme• Lactoferrin• Soy Sauce• Worchester Sauce• Fermented ingredients

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LABELING

• Best solution for people with food allergies is knowledge via labeling.

• Major challenge to food industry is to label products with increased emphasis on source of additives.

*Old method “hydrolyzed protein” *New method “hydrolyzed protein derived from wheat”.

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Approaches to Precautionary Labeling

– “may contain….”

– “may contain the occasional nut”

– “may contain nut traces”

– “not suitable for nut allergy sufferers”

– “contains ….traces”

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63A hamburger Extender

64Hamburger Buns

65A packaged of Glazed Walnuts

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LABELING CHALLENGES

• Industry concern over increase in lawsuits.

• Hard to pin down where trace amounts can come from. They can come from other processed ingredients or contact surfaces in a plant. This is a major challenge to the food industry since the tolerance levels are so small.

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DATES

• There are codes used on perishable foods that explain their shelf-life.

PACK DATE- Date the product was packagedSELL BY DATE- Last day the product should be soldUSE BY DATE- Last day the product is expected to

maintain top qualityEXPIRATION DATE- Last day the product should be

consumedProduct codes can be very useful to food manufacturers

if a recall is necessary.

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CONCLUSIONS

• This module has presented some of the key information on food labels.

• The regulations are very long and detailed but require a deeper understanding than that presented if one is interested in developing a label.

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