Supermarket Perimeter - December 2020 - 63

OPERATIONS

FOOD LABELING
by Emily Park

science and updates to serving
sizes and labeling requirements
for certain packaging sizes.

Refreshed nutritional
label requirements

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC has
impacted many processes in the
food industry, including food
labeling. In September, the US
Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) announced the latest in
a series of initiatives aimed at
providing relief from certain
regulations and deadlines to help
food manufacturers keep up with
consumers demand during the
pandemic.
The FDA will provide
additional ﬂexibility to those who
need to comply with updated
Nutrition and Supplemental Facts
label requirements set to go in
effect on Jan. 1 for manufacturers
with less than $10 million in
annual food sales.
" Although the compliance date
will remain in place, the FDA
will not focus on enforcement
actions during 2021 for these

smaller food manufacturers, " the
FDA said. " The FDA has heard
from some manufacturers that
more time may be needed to
meet all of the requirements,
especially during the COVID-19
pandemic. "
This decision comes after the
FDA announced earlier this year
that it would not be enforcing the
same new regulations that went
in effect for food manufacturers
with more than $10 million in
annual food sales on Jan. 1,
2020. The FDA is anticipated to
begin enforcement of the new
regulations for larger suppliers
in 2021.
New requirements for the
Nutrition and Supplemental Facts
labels were initially published
in 2016 and include a refreshed
design of the nutritional label,
update information and nutrition

ORIGINAL LABEL

NEW LABEL

SOURCE - STOCK.ADOBE.COM

Under the new label guidelines,
changes include increasing the
type size for calories, servings
per container and the serving
size declarations, and bolding the
number of calories and serving
size declaration to highlight the
information.
Labels also must declare the
actual amount, in addition to
percent daily value of vitamin D,
calcium, iron and potassium.
The new guidelines will also
better explain what percent daily
value means. It must read, " The
% daily value tells you how much
a nutrient in a serving of food
contributes to a daily diet. 2,000
calories a day is used for general
nutrition advice. "
The new label guidelines go
off several updates from scientiﬁc
reports released in 2015 for the
2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines
for America. Daily values for
nutrients like sodium, dietary
ﬁber and vitamin D have been
updated to reﬂect data from
those reports.
Vitamin D and potassium will
now be required on the label.
Calcium and iron will continue
to be required. Vitamins A and C
are no longer required but can be
included voluntarily. Calories from
fat has been removed because
research shows the type of fat is
more important than the amount.
Serving size requirements
have also been updated. By law,
serving sizes must be based on
amounts of foods and beverages
that people are actually eating,
not what they should be eating.
How much people eat and drink
has changed since the previous
serving size requirements that
were published in 1993.

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For example, the reference
amount used to set a serving of
ice cream was previously 1/2 cup
but is now 2/3 cup.
Packages that hold between
one and two servings should be
labeled as one serving because
people typically consume the
package in one sitting.
For products that are packaged
in an amount that could be
consumed in one sitting or
multiple sittings, the food labels
must contain a dual column to
indicate how many calories are
available per serving and per
package/per unit.

Flexibility in requirements
In May 2020, the FDA also
released temporary ﬂexibility
for labeling requirements. The
temporary guidelines allow for
minor formulation changes with
out updating labels that includes
several factors:
x Safety: The ingredient being
substituted for the labeled
ingredient does not cause any
adverse health effect.
x Quantity: Generally present
at 2% or less by weight of the
ﬁnished food;
x Prominence: The ingredient
being substituted or omitted
for the labeled ingredient is not
a major ingredient.
x Characterizing or ingredient
in name: The ingredient
being impacted is not a
characterizing ingredient
where the presence of the
ingredient has a bearing on
consumer purchasing;
x Claims: The ingredient does
not affect any voluntary
nutrient content or health
claims on the label; and
x Nutrition/function: The
labeled ingredient does not
have a signiﬁcant impact on
the ﬁnished product, including
nutritional differences or
functionality.
DECEMBER 2020 - 63
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Supermarket Perimeter - December 2020

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