9 replies to this topic

[Dee70]

Just a quick question as UK labelling legislation is a minefield!!

 

If a company (A) manufactures and packs a product for another company (B), under their own brand , therefore the other company (B) design and provide the labels to company (A)

 

Given that company(A) sources the ingredients but the ownership of the product is Company (B) - who is responsible for the actual label and the contents of the label?

 

I'm confused - any advice would be greatly appreciated - thank you 

 

 

[kfromNE]

What does the contract say between Company A (the co-packer) and Company B. 

[Foodworker]

In most cases it would be the brand owner that would be prosecuted if there were an error on the label affecting legality unless it could be shown that the manufacturer were negligent in some way (eg the manufacturer put the wrong label on)

 

That said, this is how retailers buy their own brand products and unless you had a clear print sign off by them, retailers would blame you and extract any costs from you and more.

[Scampi]

the manufacturer has an obligation to ensure they are using the correct label on the correct product

 

legal requirements depend on the contract and who orders and approves the packaging

[SQFconsultant]

Brand owner is responsible, regardless of what company actually produces the label - which can be a sticky wicket.

 

I am in start up phase of a new food company and chain of outlets, we have 10 supplements that we decided to go to a contract manufacturer for and they said they would create the labels (with our brand on it), do all the nutritionals, allergen statements, etc and put distributed by - and then our name, address and contact information - my question in the meeting was, well that's great - but what company is actually responsible for what's on the label?

 

They said you are of course - so if they make errors, they are not the ones taking the blowback - we are.

 

Thus, we have chosen to create our own labels, do our own nutritional analysis, etc.

[G M]

I vote for -- everyone gets in trouble, and they all sue each other in a blame game.

[kfromNE]

I vote for -- everyone gets in trouble, and they all sue each other in a blame game.

 

[ChristinaK]

From a government standpoint, I believe the brand owners will be the first party to blame. Like others said, you will need to have to look at the contract. If it's not clearly stated, it can devolve into a blame game like GM stated, haha.

 

When I did private label before, we usually only provided nutritional and ingredient information to the Brand. Brand was responsible for the label design. Often they would send me the label to check that the nutrition and ingredients were correctly listed. For our records I'd put the label image in a document, sign-off saying that the nutrition and ingredient list was correct, and send it back for Brand to sign final approval that we would use this label on their product starting on (date). The form and our procedure clearly stated that any label changes made by the Brand needed to be communicated to us, that we were only responsible for verifying the nutrition information and ingredients (all other requirements under 21CFR were Brand's responsibility to verify), and a revised label approval form would be signed by both parties. Although sometimes I would catch spelling or numerical mistakes on the label and let the Brand know as a courtesy.

 

Now I'm on the other end, where I bother our co-mans for ingredient and nutritional information and then bother our design team about label font size and layout and all that fun stuff. Hehehe.

[Scampi]

We pack a very large volume of private label product for a dozen different customers.  

 

Some 100% own the label, others we do (even though it's their product) 

 

It lies fully on what the contract states

 

For customers who own theirs, we don't get looped in until the new packaging has been ordered, we are told when it will arrive  AND they do their own nutritional analysis 

 

for all others, we manage everything from NFT analysis annually to regulatory changes

[Dorothy87]

Hi  

 

a brand owner.. 

 

We are in similar situation and for any issues (specs, labels, packaging etc) we are fully responsible, however we do have a contract.