In the past, packaging hasn’t been as helpful as it could be in keeping consumers informed about what’s in the foods they’re eating how it affects their nutrition. But that’s about to change with new labeling regulations already being implemented in Europe and coming soon the US.
In the European Union, EU Regulation 1169/2011 establishes a new legal framework for providing food information to consumers. Ratified in September of 2011, with full compliance for most companies required by December 13, 2014, this new regulation provides approximately 55 pages of rules intended to standardize the presentation of food information and lower the administrative burden of tracking data. And, most important, to ensure consumers have complete, unambiguous, highly legible information about the foods they plan to eat prior to purchase.
According to Stephen Kaufman, Chief Technology Officer at SGK, the most interesting part of the new EU food labeling regulation concerns pre-packaged foods offered for sale by means of distance communications. For example, a candy bar sold through Amazon. The regulation states “information shall be available before the purchase is concluded,” and “without charging consumers supplementary costs.” This means brands need to coordinate the information printed on the package with information displayed on any number of online retail sites.
New food labeling regulations are coming to the U.S. as well. For example, the Food and Drug Administration announced on February 27 that there would be:
- Much more prominent display of information such as serving sizes and calories
- A requirement that serving sizes reflect what people actually eat at a typical sitting, not the smaller amount they “should” be eating
- More prominent display of daily value percentages for nutrients, along with information about what the values mean
- Changes in label information based on new understanding of nutrition science – such as requiring information about added sugars, updating the daily values for certain “nutrients of public health significance,” emphasizing the importance of avoiding certain kinds of fat rather than focusing on total calories from fat, and so on
- All of these possibilities are best addressed early and holistically – not dealt with in isolation from the need to comply with new labeling requirements.
It’s worth noting that pharmaceutical companies face the same kinds of regulatory challenges – and should also be looking for ways to turn labeling requirements into opportunities to improve brand performance. Both food and pharma industries can make it to the other end of the wire, by employing a centralized system for managing copy, artwork and digital assets across all the brand’s manifestations, globally.
Brands need to have a plan in place for managing the many print and digital redesigns that will be required to deal with new regulations that are already in place in the European Union, and soon to come in other regions.
Are you ready?
