Imminent Label Regulations Present New Packaging Challenges

By Isaac Fletcher, contributing writer, Food Online

Changes to how nutritional information is presented on products will force food producers to present food labels clearly and concisely without sacrificing visual appeal

The information on food labels is about to become easier to understand and much more difficult to overlook. This means that the era of quickly glossing over labels and/or failing to completely understand nutritional information is coming to an end. A growing awareness over nutrition and health combined with new requirements for more prominent nutritional information will lead to increased consumer engagement with packaging. While some brands will view the changes as cumbersome and challenging, others will see them as an opportunity.

In the European Union, EU Regulation 1169/2011 establishes new framework for providing food information to consumers. The goal of this legislation is to ensure consumers have complete, unambiguous, highly legible information about food products. Similar legislation is making its way to the U.S., with the FDA announcing several important changes.

• There will be much a more prominent display of information such as serving sizes and calories
• Serving sizes are required to reflect the amount people eat at a typical setting
• There must be a more prominent display of daily value percentages for nutrients, along with information on what the values mean
• Label information must be changed to reflect new understanding of nutrition sciences, such as requiring information about added sugars and emphasizing the importance of avoiding certain kinds of fat rather than focusing on total calories from fat

Congress is also taking action with H.R.3147, which requires labels to prominently display information such as the percentage of wheat or whole grains included in products marketed as “multigrain” or “whole wheat”. Additionally, labels must disclose the inclusion of sweeteners, coloring, or flavoring. This information must be formatted in a way that improves the legibility of nutritional content and guidelines for maintaining healthy eating habits. Lastly, the regulation will prohibit misleading information, such claiming a product is low in cholesterol while containing significant amounts of trans fats.

All in all, these changes are beneficial for consumers, and can be beneficial for brands as well. To successfully adapt to the new regulations, brands will need approach the changes in a thoughtful and systematic way to ensure all necessary information is present on a product’s packaging while still maintaining its visual appeal.