Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/986636
Daily values for nutrients such as sodium, dietary fiber, and vitamin D are being updated based on newer scientific evidence. The most significant change for the specialty food industry is the inclusion of added sugars on the label. Organizations such as the American Heart Association and the World Health Organization recommend reducing the intake of added sugars; that recommendation is in the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines. Scientific research suggests that added sugars are digested differently than naturally occurring sugars, supporting FDA's requirement to call them out on nutrition labels. Sweetened soft drinks, including coffee, tea, sport and energy drinks as well as sodas, are a major source of added sugars. Snacks, sweets, cooking sauces, jams, salsas, condiments, and other specialty foods also contain them. FDA's definition of added sugars includes sugars that are either added during the processing of foods, or are packaged as such, and include sugars (free, mono- and disaccharides), sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices that are in excess of what would be expected from the same volume of 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice of the same type. Some sugars found in fruit and vegetable juices, jellies, jams, preserves, and fruit spreads are excluded. (The 258-page Nutrition Facts Final Label Rule goes into much greater depth on added sugar for those who are interested.) Along with the changes in the ingredients that must be listed, FDA is altering the label format, to make it easier for consumers to read and make decisions based on the nutrition information. Changes include: • Increasing the type size for "Calories," "Servings per container," and "Serving size" declarations. • Bold type for the "Calories" and "Serving size" declarations. • Requiring manufacturers to declare the actual amount of the mandatory vitamins and minerals in addition to the Percent Daily Value. • Adding "includes X g Added Sugars" directly beneath the listing for "Total Sugars." • Rewriting the footnote to explain the Percent Daily Value. The new footnote will 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." Significant Changes in Serving Sizes The law states that FDA must determine serving sizes based on what consumers are actually eating. And what people are actually eating has changed substantially since the serving size requirements were published in 1993. Changing dietary patterns and packaging that does not correspond to the previously established serving sizes are primary reasons. Fact is, the size of a package determines what people eat. FDA specifically had concerns with packages that are between one and two servings. For instance, a 20-ounce soda could previously be labeled as 1⅔ servings even though it is almost always consumed in one sitting. Many beverages, sweets, and snack foods have been labeled as having multiple servings even though the package is basically a single serving. FDA analyzed all food products to determine what truly is a single serving. For instance, a 1.75-ounce bag of potato chips is now a single serving, not 1¾ servings. Some serving sizes will increase and others could decrease. For example, the serving size for ice cream has increased from ½ cup to ⅔ cup. In contrast, the serving size for yogurt has decreased from 8 ounces to 6 ounces. FDA based its recommended serving sizes on: • Serving sizes used in dietary guidance recommendations or recommended by other authoritative systems or organizations. • Serving sizes recommended in industry comments. • Serving sizes used by manufacturers and grocers. • Serving sizes used by other countries. The serving sizes for all foods are listed in the Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, last updated on April 1, 2017. What You Should Do Although the time to comply with the Nutrition Facts regulation has been extended, you should take an inventory of your current label supply and project how many labels you will need through January 1, 2020, or January 1, 2021, respectively, depending on your sales volume. Many of the major manufacturers have already switched to the new Nutrition Facts Panel and consumers have accepted and applauded it. Converting in advance of the FDA deadline is alright and may even give you a competitive advantage. Whereas many consumers believe that FDA determines serving sizes by what people should be eating, the law states that serving sizes must be based on what they are actually eating. Ron Tanner is vice president, philanthropy, government, and industry relations for the Specialty Food Association. SUMMER 2018 149 WHEN YOU NEED TO COMPLY • January 1, 2020: Manufacturers with more than $10 million in annual sales • January 1, 2021: Manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual sales