Greetings to our clients and guest subscribers!
Welcome to the first issue of .....INTOUCH..... We
work to get
your products properly labeled and positioned in the
best light
within the law so that your efforts can be focused
on maximiz-
ing product sales.
We can help you today! Karen
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NOW THE NEWS!
***Is your product Fresh?***
FDA held a public meeting on use of the term "fresh"
in the
labeling of foods processed with alternative
nonthermal technol-
ogies on July 21, 2000. A transcript of comments
can be found
at
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flfresh.html
***New Health Claim for CHD***
FDA authorized a health claim on the association
between plant
sterol/stanol esters and reduced coronary heart
disease. The
interim final rule was effective September 8, 2000.
Refer to
http://www.fda.gov,
Index, Federal Register, Docket # 00P-1275
and 00P-1276. Written comments accepted until Nov.
22, 2000.
***FLAPS Results Reported***
FDA uses FLAPS (Food Label and Package Survey) to
track
market response to regulations via changes in
package labels.
The 1997 results from the 11th FLAPS survey are
reported in
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Sept.
2000,
pages 1057-1062. Of interest:
*96.5% of products were nutrition-labeled in 1997;
this includes
many that are exempt from mandatory nutrition
labeling
*38.7% of product labels had nutrient content claims
*only 4.2% of product labels had health claims
Author's note: Claims can help sell products, but
also invite
additional regulatory scrutiny. We'll help you
determine exactly
what to say and how to say it on your packaging.
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FYI TIP: Did you know ... the minimum height
requirement for
ingredient statement lettering on package labels is
1/16th inch?
Some manufacturers use all capital letters to more
easily meet
this FDA regulation.