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Custom Training Bears Fruit for Commodity Groups
The Client
Creating Nutrition Facts labels for fresh agricultural products requires a keen understanding of FDA requirements. An industry consultant, who educates farmers about informing consumers about the nutritional benefits of their products, didn’t know how to approach food labeling. Recognizing this was not her area of expertise, the consultant turned to Food Consulting Company to expand her knowledge and create a custom training program to help educate her clients.
The Challenge
Unlike manufactured or branded foods that have a consistent nutrient profile, there is inherent variation in agricultural products. Commodity food labelers often use USDA nutrient database values derived from continuous product sampling. Ensuring products are within those bounds and knowing what nutrients and attributes are allowed in product promotion is challenging. Another challenge is knowing when to use the FDA values for fresh fruits and vegetables and not from the USDA nutrient database.
The Solution
An expert from Food Consulting Company worked side-by-side with the consultant to develop a strategy to help educate the growers and provide a resource guide for them to refer to over time. The Food Consulting Company expert compiled the resource guide with an overview of what labeling involves and intricacies of the regulations, customized specifically for the commodity grown. It included compliant Nutrition Facts labels using information in the USDA nutrient database and how to apply all FDA rules related to rounding and percent daily values.
In a webinar for growers, packers, commodity board leaders and their marketing team, the Food Consulting Company expert led a training that stepped through the resource guide. She provided an overview of the food labeling process, how nutrients are to be listed, what graphical requirements are needed, and other pertinent FDA requirements. Putting it all together, she provided example food labels to illustrate compliant Nutrition Facts for use in the marketplace.
The Results
Education about the benefits of Nutrition Facts labeling was of great value to the farmers and leadership team who wanted to brand and promote their fresh produce. The custom-developed resource guide and webinar proved very useful for the audience to understand how FDA regulations coincide with the USDA nutrient database and what is needed for compliant Nutrition Facts labels.
“I certainly don’t know all the nuances of FDA regulations given my work with commodity boards and councils but I know how to identify quality resources – in this case, Food Consulting Company. And I benefitted from the training as much as my client did!”
— Mary Jo Feeney, MS, RD, FADA, specializing in nutrition communications, marketing and coordination of research activities for agricultural commodity boards
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