South African food processors are in for a new set of rules when it comes to food labels. The department of health gazetted a 238-page document for public comment, which hopes to bring changes to how food is labelled and marketed in Mzansi.
This means that farmers who process raw materials into packaged goods must be aware of what the law says about food labels. While the public inputs on the draft regulations are still being processed, here’s what all agro-processors should know according to Craig Murrell, Agri Enterprises’s head of advisory services.
Sinenhlanhla Ngwenya: What does the law say about food labelling?
Craig Murrell: Labelling must be clear, not confusing or deceptive to consumers. Food labels cannot be ambiguous. Nutritional contents of food have to be printed on the outermost packaging of the food along with a list of ingredients and an allergen warning.
For example, you will see the croissant nutritive info on the outer bag of Woolworth’s croissants but not on each individually packaged croissant. This is all per the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) of 2009.
What are labelling regulatory and quality standards?
All are governed by the CPA 2009. Standards have to do with not compromising the food-preserving characteristics of the food packaging and presenting a minimum level of prescribed nutritional facts (per the CPA).
They are to be represented at the unit level. As well as per standard unit (50g or 100g) level: units of energy, g of total carbohydrates, g of sugar, g of total fats, g of saturated fats, g of unsaturated fats, g of protein, mg of salt/sodium. This is in the nutritional table.
As for the total list of ingredients, every single ingredient has to be stated without ambiguity. This is to firstly, ensure no allergens are unintentionally triggered (e.g. soya or nut allergies) and secondly, ensure traceability (e.g. roundtable on sustainable palm oil).
Why is food labelling so crucial for the consumer?
Consumers’ primary point of access to information about the food they consume is printed on the food packaging. It’s onerous to make consumers have to further research the food they are consuming, and sometimes impossible to determine the composition of nutrients in the food they are eating.
For example, a Mondalēz Top Deck chocolate slab has sugar, saturated, and unsaturated fats printed on it. That info is not on the Cadbury website. If it were not on the packaging, it is impossible for consumers to know how much sugar that chocolate contains.
What does a good food label look like?
A good food label has clear, unambiguous, easily readable information printed on the package. It contains a nutritional table, a full list of ingredients, and an allergen warning.
The responsibility of food labelling falls on the point of sale to the customer. This requirement (e.g. by Tiger Brands for their Jungle Oats energy bars) needs to be clearly communicated back to the factory that purchases the packaging from a plastic converter that creates the food packaging and prints the food label.
Does food labelling impact food quality and food safety?
Food labelling promotes public access to information about the consumers’ foods while food safety responsibility falls at the point of sale. Food labelling has excluded materials for the purposes of ensuring food safety (e.g. lead-free and mercury-free ink have to be used when printing on food labels) as all packaging and labelling has to be HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control points) 22001 food contact safe.
What are some new developments in food packaging and labelling?
Worldwide all food packaging falls into one of three categories: compostable, reusable, or recyclable. In South Africa, the notable player is plastics. Some 800 kilo metric tonne (KMT) of the 2000 KMT packaging industry is represented by plastics.
Some 800+KMT of plastic enters the plastics value chain every year, and over 120 KMT of that plastic packaging is not recyclable. This is where compostable, biodegradable plastics come into play. It directly addresses the issue of the 15% unrecyclable problematic plastic and the 6% limited recyclable plastic that enters the value chain every year.
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