Volume
9, Number 1 - January 2008
IN THIS ISSUE:
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About Food Consulting Company
" I wanted to extend my deep
appreciation for your talent and your
timeliness on my recent projects. Importing
from Turkey, language barriers and
everything under the sun that didn’t make
sense -- you brought clarity to our
mission."
~ Dan Hughes
OPTIMideas / Value Quest Foods
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Happy New Year! We hope you had time
to relax and refresh over the holiday season. To
keep your refreshed feeling, lessen your load by
ordering a prepaid plan for
regulatory support
from Food Consulting Company. With a plan you
will get timely, accurate answers to questions
that might otherwise stump, stress or slow you
down. See the plans and order:
www.foodlabels.com. |
Q. Is it a
requirement that vitamins and minerals (Vitamins
A and C, Calcium, Iron, etc.) in the
Nutrition Facts be reported using even numbers?
If yes, what is the logic for this, and what is
the rule? K.B., Packaging
Company, California
A. FDA
regulations specify "rounding rules" for the %
Daily Value of vitamins and minerals. When the
rules are properly followed the % Daily
Value for a nutrient can be an even or odd
number.
Read more…
Submit a question
for Reader Q&A (no charge). |
Food Labels Q&A Winning Topics
Announced
Food Consulting Company notified three
newsletter subscribers that questions they
submitted to Food Label News were selected as
winning questions among those that were answered
in the newsletter during 2007. The
questions/topics are winners because they ranked
highest in interest by other readers. Each of
the three winners received a $25 check in
recognition of his/her contribution to Food
Label News. Top topics addressed in Reader Q&A
for 2007 and 2006 and links for easy review are:
2007
•
trans fat labeling, August
•
signature line, February
•
sample food packages, November
2006
•
internet sales, August
•
GMO labeling, July
•
lab vs. database analysis, September
All questions answered in
Food Label News are
posted on Food Consulting Company's
Reader Q&A
Page.
Commentary: Food Label News will continue
to respond to one question per month as space
permits. Submitters of the top three questions
during the 2008 calendar year will be
acknowledged with a $25 thank you check in
January 2009.
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What’s Up? Nutrition Quality Indexes/Systems
Nutritional quality indexes and nutritional
scoring systems are terms for methods that are
being developed to determine a "nutritional
score" for individual foods. The nutrition
scores will soon appear on some food labels and
on some shelf labels near product price
information. According to Internet news reports
at least one system is ready for use and others
are in development by industry and health
advocacy groups. The scores are based on a
number of nutrition related factors (e.g.,
certain vitamins, minerals, fiber, and
calories); the exact factors vary between
systems.
Under current FDA regulations the nutrition
scores can be used on food labels as long as the
stated information is truthful and not
misleading.
FDA is looking into the use of symbols on food
labels to communicate nutrition information to
consumers. In September 2007, the Agency held a
public meeting on this topic. Transcripts of the
meeting have not yet been posted on FDA's web
site. Recently FDA reopened the comment period
to end January 15, 2008. The
September Food Label News
reported on the meeting agenda.
Commentary: Food Consulting Company
clients are increasingly interested in
front-of-pack labeling, including symbols and
scores. We can help you evaluate symbols and
scoring systems and
prepare FDA compliant
labels.
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Public Speaks to FDA on Salt and Health
On November 29, 2007, FDA held a public meeting
on the regulatory status of salt. FDA received
comments on whether FDA should change salt's
regulatory status from GRAS (generally
recognized as safe) to food additive and require
limits on salt in processed foods. The
November Food Label News
reported on the meeting agenda.
Transcripts of the meeting have not yet been
posted on FDA's web site, however arguments in
favor of the changes in regulatory status have
been widely reported by Internet news outlets.
Per the reports, health advocates (e.g.,
American Medical Association, Center for Science
in the Public Interest, others) argued for FDA
to strengthen salt labeling requirements and to
change salt's current status from GRAS to
controlled food additive.
Opposing arguments seem to get less attention in
the reports, however Food Consulting Company has
learned that at least one health
advocacy group (American Dietetic Association)
argued at the meeting that while consuming less
salt and sodium could improve the public's
health, it remains unclear how to best
accomplish this within the current environment
and regulatory framework of the United States.
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At Your Service:
Shelf Life
Evaluations and use of "best before"
or "use by" label statements keep your
"fresh" product in the pantry. Food Consulting Company
can help.
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including subscription and copyright information.
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contact us.
© 2008, Food Consulting Company.
www.foodlabels.com.
All rights reserved.
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