Over declaring on labels
Hello to all experts here:
So Im kind of in the middle of a dilemma, we are a company that produce cookies and we have this new product coming out, its 10 cookies total, its gonna go in the same package and the intent its to put them in filmed trays with the same bar code, now the problem is that 5 of the cookies are going to be pink and the other 5 are going to be yellow, this are individually wrapped cookies (1 cookie, 1 trays and 1 film), all of the ingredients of the frosting and cookie base are exactly the same except for the coloring of the frosting, now the question is, would it be ok to over declare one of the coloring's?
The company its trying to use the same film on both cookies to avoid the hassle of create 2 different films and all of the implications that it comes with it, and of course, the challenges with the production of it.
If someone can refer me to the section of the 21 CFR code dedicated to this particular section of labels would be awesome.
Thanks in advance.
I would say yes, declaring both colors in the ingredient declaration. However, check this FDA food labeling guide.
https://www.fda.gov/...e/ucm265446.pdf
I'm not a food labeling legal expert by any means. I think it would be worth it for your company to seek out a labeling legal expert to determine the proper labeling to comply with the law. Best to spend the money on that now, than deal with a huge potential mess if you don't do it correctly, including a potential recall.
I'm guessing the color level is very low it is acceptable to list ingredients in descending order by weight until you get to less than 2% and then you can put Less than 2% and list all of those items in any order you would like
21cfr101.4 (2) The descending order of predominance requirements of paragraph (a)(1) of this section do not apply to ingredients present in amounts of 2 percent or less by weight when a listing of these ingredients is placed at the end of the ingredient statement following an appropriate quantifying statement, e.g., "Contains _ percent or less of ___" or "Less than _ percent of ___." The blank percentage within the quantifying statement shall be filled in with a threshold level of 2 percent, or, if desired, 1.5 percent, 1.0 percent, or 0.5 percent, as appropriate. No ingredient to which the quantifying phrase applies may be present in an amount greater than the stated threshold.