From restaurants to hospitals and assisted living facilities to schools, listing the ingredients on a product’s label is becoming increasingly more important. And in the time of COVID-19, safe and clearly marked packaging is not only required but expected by the average customer.
It’s not only those who suffer from allergies who pay close attention to what is in their food. Certain diets and dietary restrictions require customers to be more diligent about the products they purchase. Learn more about allergen and food labels on our previous blog post from this past May.
Which Ingredients Need to be Listed?
The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires food distributors to declare food allergens when they include one or more of the “big eight”. These foods include milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat. According to Food Safety Magazine, these eight foods account for 90% of major food-caused allergic reactions worldwide.
In addition to these foods, the EU includes a few more potential allergens on food labelling. These allergens include celery (and celeriac), sesame, sulphites, lupin, molluscs and mustard. European allergens also expand on the standard US list for gluten, adding rye, barley and oats to foods, whereas the US standards only require labels to list the inclusion of wheat.
Additionally, any foods may use the gluten-free claim so long as the food contains less than 20 ppm (parts per million) of gluten products. Foods that do not contain gluten may use the “gluten-free” claim even if the recipe or food itself inherently does not contain gluten. In other words, it is perfectly fine to advertise food as being gluten-free just for the sake of appealing to customers who try to limit their gluten intake.
Looking for a Labelling Solution?
Creating a compliant and safe label for food is always important, especially with new laws coming into play. But replicating food labels over and over can be difficult and time-consuming. Our DateCodeGenie® can help.
Made from high-quality, kitchen-grade stainless steel, the DateCodeGenie uses a cloud-based, centrally-managed software to keep track of label designs and other information. Each device includes a multimedia gallery that provides access to recipes, training materials and interactive user content–whatever your business may need. Contact NCCO International to learn more.