7 replies to this topic

[shea quay]

I know everybody HATES the labelling topics, but bear with me and any advice would be appreciated.....

We sell our products in retail packs which contain full "Typical Values per 100g" nutrition values.The original testing was carried out many years ago, and it seems the original certificates have been lost in the sands of time.

Therefore I have recently began to retest our products for their nutritional values. While there have been no major changes, I am noticing a trend that values seem to be understated on the packaging. While we are not making any claims such as "low fat" or anything, does anyone know if there are standards for limits of variation or an actual definition of the term "typical values"? E.g. if my recent testing finds the energy to be within 10% of the figure stated on the pack, is it OK, or should I give the most wonderful news of a redesign to our printers which will end up in the breaking or more plates than a full sized Greek wedding.

I appreciate that the "correct" response is to carry out a range of nutrition testing and take the average and update the packaging, but my boss savagely beats me if I exceed my testing budget, and we have a wide range of products.

Thanks in advance.

[Scotty]

The attached may give some guidenace on nutrition labelling and acceptable tolerances.

Regards

Attached Files

•  ciaa_manual_annex4.pdf   115.49KB   98 downloads

[shea quay]

Sincere thanks, Scotty. Thumbs up to the Irish government, eh?!? Still, we seem to within the UK's limits on most products. Time for my celebration dance......

[hchristopher]

I know everybody HATES the labelling topics, but bear with me and any advice would be appreciated.....

We sell our products in retail packs which contain full "Typical Values per 100g" nutrition values.The original testing was carried out many years ago, and it seems the original certificates have been lost in the sands of time.

Therefore I have recently began to retest our products for their nutritional values. While there have been no major changes, I am noticing a trend that values seem to be understated on the packaging. While we are not making any claims such as "low fat" or anything, does anyone know if there are standards for limits of variation or an actual definition of the term "typical values"? E.g. if my recent testing finds the energy to be within 10% of the figure stated on the pack, is it OK, or should I give the most wonderful news of a redesign to our printers which will end up in the breaking or more plates than a full sized Greek wedding.

I appreciate that the "correct" response is to carry out a range of nutrition testing and take the average and update the packaging, but my boss savagely beats me if I exceed my testing budget, and we have a wide range of products.

Thanks in advance.

Per U.S. Law, it must be within +/- 20% of what is declared on the label.

[Philip.H]

Hi,

Regarding Europe there is no European legislation on tolerances for nutritional values.
However they have created a workgroup that in following of the new consumer information - labelling guideline will evaluate and will try to create specific tolerances. The values can be expected circa 2014.

In general in-house we use the rule that a change of 15% in any parameter gives a new evaluation of the packaging.

And for further reference i guess it depends to wich country you export. So there are several industry standaards out there with perhaps the most general being the ciaa a.k.a Food Drink Europe.

For Belgium I can confirm we have no tolerance. In France I can point you towards the ANIA
http://www.ania.net/...tm#c11256589391

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Phil

[shea quay]

Thanks Phil. If there's a referendum scheduled for that then I'm leading the "no" vote!

I actually stumbled across the Food Safety Authority of Ireland's consultation guide that they apparently ran without specifically consulting me (I'm a bit insulted to be honest).

http://www.fsai.ie/u...s-Labelling.pdf

They also had a good pdf on the accuracy of nutrition labelling of pre-packaged food in Ireland, but unfortunately the link seems to be broken. From my recollection of reading it, Ireland may be somewhere towards the bottom in terms of accuracy of labelling!

[Philip.H]

I think that the European tolerances aren't a bad thing if they do it correctly. For me it will end the fights with retailers about small differences and the declared values.
A good point to consider is if you have labels with claims on it. Since thats a key parameter.

Edited by Philip.H, 12 May 2012 - 12:52 PM.

[Charles.C]

If you’ve perfected a recipe and are known as the go-to person for your particular specialty it might be time to think about going commercial. Before you do so there are several factors that you should be aware of.

Dear jessicasmith,

And ????

Rgds / Charles.C