Our US FDA labeling consultants and Food regulatory consultant have seen many innovations come to market and helped businesses large and small to navigate complicated regulations. We asked them to share their top five tips for developing compliant labels right from the start:

Standards of identity are set forth by the FDA which define what a particular food product must contain and/or not contain. Products like cheddar cheese, milk chocolate and macaroni all have standards of identity. Is there a standard of identity for your product and/or its ingredients? An FDA labeling consultant can help you find out. You can also reference the FDA labeling guidance here to determine if your product needs to meet certain standards. 

Should your product contain any natural and/or artificial flavoring that is the same characterizing flavor as the food product, the correct disclosure/terminology might need to be called out in the product name and in the ingredient statement. To determine if the flavoring added is natural or artificial, or whether “with other natural flavors” is needed, reference the FDA labeling guidance in 21 CFR 101.22. 

Ingredients listed within the ingredient statement must be declared using their common and usual names. Descriptive terminology is not permitted. For example, you cannot call an ingredient “Vine Ripened Fresh California Tomatoes” within the ingredient statement. The correct term would be “Tomatoes”. Consult food regulatory consultant if you are unsure how your ingredient should be declared. 

All sub-ingredients need to be listed within the ingredient statement. Collective terminology is permitted when followed by sub-ingredients, for example, “Sauce (Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Water, Tomato Paste, Onions, Parmesan Cheese, etc).” However, incidental additives, including processing aids, that are present in a food at insignificant levels and do not have any technical or functional effect in that food do not need to be declared. Check with an FDA labeling consultant if you are unsure how your ingredients should be displayed to be compliant.

#5 Nutrition Facts Panel Formatting 

 

Updating the nutrition facts panel formatting to the new NLEA can be a challenge, but following the FDA labeling guidance in 21 CFR 101.9 and discussing with food regulatory consultants makes the process much easier. Ensure all point sizes meet minimum requirements, indentations are added where needed and all nutrients are rounded per FDA guidelines. Also keep in mind if your product is enriched with additional vitamins and minerals, they need to be declared in the Nutrition Facts Panel as well. 

 

There is a lot to consider when piecing your label together but these are some of the most common errors we see each day, both in the work we do and in the court of law – such as recent vanilla flavor litigation cases. 

 

If you have any queries for the US domestic market or further abroad, we have a network of advisors globally who can help you understand, apply and comply with food regulations.

 

Originally publised in : https://bit.ly/3Fsw9Z6

 

This week we talk to Pete Martin, Regulatory Director at Ashbury for a Q&A about the new product development process, and how doing your research — and calling in the experts when needed — could minimise your risk of facing hurdles in the future. 

A. The new product development process should consider compliance from the beginning of your journey to avoid producing a food that is non-compliant with legislation in its intended markets — whether it’s the legal requirements for packaging, allergen labelling, or nutrition and health claims UK. 

This means plenty of research early on — understanding legal terms and definitions, the risks associated with your intended ingredients and markets, and monitoring best practice and competitor activity. 

With only the broad requirements of Codex and no worldwide harmonised approach to permitted or banned ingredients, labelling rules, allergen labelling UK, or health and nutrition claims, it can be extremely easy for your product to fall victim to non-compliance.    

You don’t want to have gone through all the rigorous product development and design stages, only to find that a specific ingredient, or health claim, isn’t accepted in the market you want your product to be sold in.

For novel foods, any compliance journey needs to recognise that an ingredient, finalised food, or process is just that - novel - and understand what that truly means. Questions to ask: 

 

A. Ensuring your house is in order through good record-keeping is more important than ever, to help satisfy legal responsibilities but also as consumers increasingly want to know more about their products, such as provenance. 

Your pack copy may need to change every time you enter a new market, or every time you tweak a recipe or change a supplier. Through good record-keeping, ideally in a specification system, you can protect yourself and your brand from running into problems with enforcement in the future. It can help you provide consumers with relevant information quickly and with ease.  

 

Compliance may be considered a process that could hinder innovation, but its role is crucial in protecting consumers and promoting food safety, and in making sure companies compete on a level playing field.  

 

In spite of this, compliance alone can’t prevent many issues associated with food — for example, obesity. Legislation varies from one jurisdiction to another, as does the approach to legislation. It might be precautionary or proportional, it may rely on many codes or it may rely upon case law. 

 

A. When launching a brand-new product, it’s important not to get carried away and be mindful of any marketing, ingredients, or ‘health’ claims you intend on making.  

Get yourself familiar with the regulatory limitations that governments set on health or nutritional claims, otherwise you may face enforcement action. 

Whether you’re a start-up business or a seasoned trader expanding your range, knowing what you do know (and what you don’t) is crucial. If you don’t know the answer, asking a product information consultant can provide you with the reassurance and support you need (and reduce the likelihood of you experiencing additional costs associated with non-compliance and revisions). 

 

Start compliance early and build a solid footing from which to build your product can make the entire process easier; from product positioning and marketing claims, to product information and labelling, design, and packaging. 

In 2018, an application for a novel way to manufacture steviol glycosides enzymatically was submitted to the EC for approval. This triggered a need to update food labelling regulations relating to the existing authorised food additive and implement new regulations to reflect the new version of the food additive. This differentiation is aimed at supporting consumer understanding of the ingredient origin. 

The enforcement date for this was August 2nd, 2021, however, the legislation states that foods containing E960 which are labelled or placed on the market up to 18 months after the entry into force, may be marketed until stocks are exhausted. For businesses who currently use steviol glycosides in their formulation and label their products either with the E number (E960) or ‘Steviol Glycosides’, they will need to update their product information to ‘Steviol glycosides from Stevia’ or ‘E960a’. For those who wish to innovate using enzymatically produced steviol glycosides, food labelling should state ‘Enzymatically produced steviol glycosides’ or’ ‘E960c’ as per the annex of Regulation (EC) No. 1156/2021, which amends annex II of Regulation (EC) No. 1333/2008. 

Ashbury’s food regulatory consultants advise that from a commercial perspective, whether you choose to use the E-number or full statement will depend on several elements. What is your product, your brand policy, how much space do you have to play with on the label and who is your target consumer? Many consumers are now familiar with the term ‘Stevia’ which is a commercial name but not the correct legal name for the ingredient; ‘steviol glycosides’ is less recognised. The new statement which includes “enzymatically produced” is quite detailed which could intimidate some consumers. E numbers on the other hand come with their own bias but are useful for saving space in crowded ingredients lists or labels. 

For tailored advice on how to comply with this change or any other food labelling regulations, please do get in touch with our food regulatory consultants. 

Related Links –

View Original Source: https://bit.ly/3hMWes2