RL Food Testing.

The New Nutrition Facts Label is here.

The FDA has issued their final regulations for the updated Nutrition Label.

These are the biggest changes to come to the label since their origin some twenty-five

years ago.

Now, a lot has changed and I want to walk you through those changes.

But first, here are the top two things you need to know.

One: these changes to the nutrition label may impact how your food product's nutrition

appears to consumers; as a result, you may want to consider marketing changes or even

reformulations if you feel the new label may affect those messages.

Two: do not put this off, get going on it now.

It may take your company longer than you think to make the switch and the sooner you have

the new label on the shelves, the better.

This change was consumer driven and they are antsy to have it in their hands; as a result,

retailers will be anxious to get it on their shelves.

Let's take a look at the detailed changes and how they affect your food product.

Probably the most obvious of the changes is the redesign of the label to focus more on

calories and servings per container.

This includes a larger font size for calories as well as a more prominent placement.

The RACCs or recommended serving sizes have also been updated to reflect a more realistic

representation of what we are eating in one sitting.

For example, a serving of ice cream will now be listed as two-thirds cup instead of half

a cup.

Therefore, a pint of ice cream will now be declared as three servings per container instead

of four.

The Daily Values, or DVs, have been updated, some of these include DVs for sodium and fiber.

Daily Values are the nutrient reference values based on age groups, that we use to calculate

the percent DV that is shown on nutrition labels.

Sugars that do not occur naturally in food but are added by the manufacturer must now

be declared under Added Sugars, which has been added as a required nutrient.

A percent DV of 50g has been established for adults, and a list for added sugars has been

provided by the FDA.

Calories from Fat and Other Carbohydrates have been removed from the label.

Dietary Fiber has been defined as a non-digestible carbohydrate and fibers that are beneficial

to human health may be reported on the label.

Vitamins A and C are no longer required, and have been replaced with Vitamin D and Potassium.

Twenty-five years ago, public consumption of Vitamins A and C were found to be inadequate.

Recent studies show they are no longer of concern, but Vitamin D and Potassium are.

As such, these new guidelines for nutrient reporting reflect more current data.

The foot note table has been removed and a statement has been added to explain what DVs

mean.

Finally, a dual column label will be required for some packages.

Products requiring this dual label include: One, a product that needs further preparation,

like a dry cake mix or pasta.

Two, a product commonly combined with other ingredients like adding cereal to milk.

Three, a product needing to show the percent DV for two different RDI's, for example both

a child and an adult.

Four, a product that has two serving sizes, therefore will need to show nutrition information

for both.

Five, a product that has two to three servings are now required to use the Dual Column label

to show nutrition information for a single serving and for the whole container.

The FDA's examples are a 24-ounce bottle of soda or a pint of ice cream.

Six, of note, a product that is packaged and sold individually and contains less than two

servings is now to be labeled as a single serving.

Previously, for packages that contained less than two servings you could list "About 2

Servings" now it must be listed as 1 serving per container.

The compliance date is July 26th, 2018.

However, food manufacturers with less than $10 million in annual food sales will have one

additional year to comply.

So, what does all this mean for your food product?

Many of these changes may impact how your food product's nutrition will appear to

consumers.

For example, a larger serving size may increase your calories displayed, while the new fiber

definitions may lower your fiber declaration, and the new added sugars declaration may highlight

undesired nutrients.

Food manufacturers may want to reformulate some of their products to better position

how their products will appear to consumers.

Finally, detailed record keeping will now be required for certain nutrients.

Because there are no analytical methods currently available for some of these, for example Added

Sugars or Dietary Fiber, the FDA is requiring records to be kept by the manufacturer for

at least two years.

So what should you be doing now?

Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes a food manufacturer can make is to wait.

Whether you are an existing RL Food Testing customer or new to our family, get started

right now and give us a call.

We will take a look at your food product and be able to tell you how these new changes

will affect your labeling the most.

This is a really exciting time for all of us in the food business and maybe a little

scary too.

We at RL Food Testing want to help our customers navigate these changes with ease.

You can visit our website for more information and feel free to give us a call too.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanks so much for listening! [music]