![]() It serves as a means of communication between the manufacturers and the consumers and is crucial for shaping purchasing decisions. What is a food label? What should your pre-packaged food label include?įood labels are descriptors on a package, representing detailed information about the food product. Here is a quick guide to understanding what food labels tell you. But reading the label is important, especially if you are shopping for kids or adults in the family who have certain ailments. That might be one of the reasons most of us don’t bother reading what’s written on a packet of chips, or biscuits, a sweetened yogurt cup or even an ice-cream. But food labels tend to be more confusing than easy. It’s supposed to help you easily understand which food item is nutritious and which is not. We don’t make money off our referral to either GS1 or ReciPal, but see these referrals as a way to help you complete your labeling more quickly - which lets you focus more on the other important aspects of a successful product launch.There is a reason why there is a nutrition food label on every packaged food item. The first recipe can be analyzed with a free trial, and additional recipes can be analyzed either for $19 per recipe or as a monthly subscription. Similar to how we step our customers through applying for their first UPC barcode via the GS1 US web site, we recommend ReciPal to get Nutrition Facts on new food products. If you make a change in your recipe, you can see the updated label instantly, and as a web service ReciPal can reflect new FDA food label regulations as soon as they take effect. It prompts you to include allergen warnings as well as suggesting possible positive health claims to consider. ReciPal guides you through available label options to fit on your package, making it difficult to select one that is inappropriate. Throughout the site, information icons provide helpful hints that put the most relevant FDA labeling requirements in easy-to-understand language. I tried over a dozen recipes with two different web browsers myself, but if you want a high-quality copy of your Nutrition Facts panel, the built-in “Save as PDF” in Google’s Chrome browser works particularly well.Įach ingredient is added through an intuitive search that suggests possible matches as you type. Through a simple and structured process, you can receive a complete Nutrition Facts layout, an ordered ingredient list, allergen information, and batch costing if you wish. When I described how I wanted to learn more about the product to recommend it to our customers, the developer of ReciPal provided a complimentary subscription so that our label experts could better understand the depth of features available. It lists no less than 153 questions and answers, and the Q&A is only one of 16 separate sections detailed.Īfter initially trying demonstration versions of several different nutrition analysis products, I quickly zeroed in on the flexibility and ease-of-use of a web-based product called ReciPal. ![]() I’ve already spent way too much time poring through the FDA’s Food Labeling Guide. I wanted to find an answer that was faster, cheaper, and most importantly, followed regulations correctly. It was not only slow, but also expensive for the customer. Second, an outside nutritionist was hired for consulting, but with each product change, the communication necessary demanded additional time. First, there was a sprawling Excel spreadsheet, but this became cumbersome by requiring careful checks to avoid formula errors. This would allow the retailer to provide the best information to their shoppers both online and in stores.Īt the time I got involved in the project, two different approaches were being used to prepare Nutrition Facts. Long before the first shipment arrived at receiving, the retailer requested a packaging prototype with a UPC bar code as well as the FDA Nutrition Facts and allergen information. I recently had an inside look at introducing a promising new product to a major grocery chain. Our goal is to let you focus on your new product launch while we focus on your labels. One of the most exciting times is when a new product is about to be introduced.
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