When a characterizing flavor is included in the product name or implied through a graphic, there are specifics that must accompany the flavor name in all locations on the package. It also must be presented in at least half the type size of the characterizing flavor name.
more “Flavor Qualifiers, creating the distinction with labeling”
Effective January 1st,2023 sesame will be added as the 9th major food allergen required to be labeled on packaging and monitored within manufacturing facilities under the regulations of FSMA and the FASTER Act.
more “Preventative Allergen Controls: How are manufacturers handling the requirements?”
From July 8-11, 2019, the FDA performed an inspection at California Cereal Products’ dry cereal manufacturing facility in Macon, GA. The inspection resulted in the Agency issuing a Warning Letter to the company. Although there were no label compliance issues to highlight from this one, the serious cGMP violations were almost TNTC (too numerous to count).
Four major observations of violations made it into the Warning Letter:
We live in a constantly evolving world and today more than ever customers are combing through labels and scrutinizing the foods they are consuming. Companies are now listening with ears wide open to what the concerns are. In the food industry over the past few years there has been two driving forces behind changes in the industry, one is the consumers movement for “clean labels” and the other is the over 20 years in the making labeling reform. Both changes underline the same key concept, transparency. One of the important aspects of transparency is it simply builds trust and gives the food industry more motive than ever to meet consumer demand.
In 2011, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was enacted into law, much of which created statutes to improve not only the capacity to detect but also the capacity to prevent food safety hazards. As 2017 marks the first year of full compliance food manufactures to importers are all impacted by its’ goal of preventing the contamination of all food products. Several additions to the law will focus on food suppliers having both backward and forward traceability.
more “Expanding the Requirements of Packaging Within the Food Supply Chain”
Often found on packaging are claims that describe directly or imply the level of a nutrient in a serving. These claims are limited to those nutrients which are authorized by the FDA, and have established Daily Values. These types of claims can be used without direct review by the FDA, however there is still compliance based on the Code of Federal Regulations that must be adhered to. more “What are Nutrient Content Claims?”
Since the new regulations came out in 2016 one of the most talked about changes deals with the added definition for dietary fiber. Prior to 2016 the FDA did not have an “official” definition which allowed suppliers to base their total dietary fiber amount solely on analytical testing. Since then there have been dramatic updates to the regulations.
The two final rules that the FDA issued pertain to food and supplement labeling as well as a rule that will amend reference amounts customarily consumed (RACCs) and regulations around serving sizes. These changes are made to help consumers make better informed decisions about the food they eat. more “New Serving Sizes”
The new regulations released in 2016 set many additional labeling requirements for food manufacturers. One of the biggest changes was the “added sugars” requirement now on the Nutrition Facts Panel. more “Added Sugars”