{"id":13933,"date":"2010-11-08T10:42:46","date_gmt":"2010-11-08T08:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=13933"},"modified":"2010-11-08T22:17:12","modified_gmt":"2010-11-08T20:17:12","slug":"food-labelling-and-advertising-to-change-radically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/whale-cottage-portfolio\/food-labelling-and-advertising-to-change-radically\/","title":{"rendered":"Food and beverage labelling and advertising to change radically"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The promulgation of the Regulations related to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs in March this year, and effective in March 2011, will have a dramatic effect on all food and beverage labelling, reports AdVantage<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Regulations\u00a0fall under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act 54 of 1972).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The change in the labelling and advertising regulations was the Department of Health’s response to the World Health Organisation’s Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity\u00a0& Health.\u00a0 Consumers will be provided\u00a0with much more accurate information\u00a0 on food labels and advertising, and it means that almost every food and beverage pack will have to be redesigned, says Barry Skjoldhammer, the Director of Labelling Solutions at Labelpak.\u00a0 “The reason I say this is because presently no product is in fact compliant”.\u00a0 He says that while the regulations are clear, there is a great deal of confusion amongst food and beverage marketers as to the exact regulations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The regulations aim to curb the over-exaggeration of claims, and the manufacturers have to back up all such claims.\u00a0\u00a0 The size of the font used on packaging has been regulated.\u00a0\u00a0 Claims about a particular characteristic of a product cannot be made when it already contains that characteristic – e.g. one cannot claim that milk has calcium, or that fruit juice has Vitamin C.<\/p>\n

The regulations prescribe that the following can\u00a0be communicated on pack labels:<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Nutrient content<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 comparative claims –\u00a0claims such as ‘lite’, ‘less than’, and ‘reduced’ are allowed, but are a minefield.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 country of origin<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 date\/batch identification<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 food additives\u00a0– must be listed in descending order in the ingredient list.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 allergens, such as milk, fish, peanuts, some cereals, uncommon allergens, and potential cross-contamination in the production process, etc.,\u00a0must be declared in brackets<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 nutritional information<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 amount of ingredients in product which are emphasised on the label<\/p>\n

The Regulations forbid the following:<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Nutrient function claims<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Enhanced function claims<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Reduction of disease claims<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Pre- and pro-biotic claims<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Glycemic Index claims<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Slimming claims<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Negative claims<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Misleading descriptions may not be created through words, the logo\u00a0or artwork on the pack.\u00a0 “A word, statement, logo, pictorial representation on a product that implies, for example, ‘healthier’ will not be allowed if they are not linked\u00a0to specific protocols with the Department of Agriculture.”\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Labelpak worked with its client Fruitime, in changing the packaging to meet the new Regulations.\u00a0 It had to remove the claims “no sugar added” and “contains real fruit”; storage instructions have been added; the fruit photograph had to be changed to reflect the contents in the ingredients list; nutritional information was added; the blend name (‘Tropical Blend’) met the minimum size requirement of more than 4 mm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new pack labelling and advertising regulations should help South African consumers make more informed and healthier choices in their brand purchases, which is what the World Health Organisation wishes to achieve world-wide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 Twitter @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The promulgation of the Regulations related to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs in March this year, and effective in March 2011, will have a dramatic effect on all food and beverage labelling, reports AdVantage.\u00a0 The Regulations\u00a0fall under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act 54 of 1972).\u00a0 The change in the labelling and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[124,266,21],"tags":[8453,8450,32378,8447,8457,8460,8452,8443,8445,8454,8442,8446,8458,8448,8455,8444,8451,8449,8456,32373,8459],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t