Volume
9, Number 4 - April 2008
IN THIS ISSUE:
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About Food Consulting Company
"WOW! The online
information bank you created for our company with all the Nutrition Facts Panels and
Ingredient Statements you've ever done for
us is superb. My life is a lot less
stressful now."
~ Kristi Arend
Golden County Foods
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Greetings, Last month we asked readers to
tell us what factor is most likely to slow down
label development projects? If you haven’t
responded yet we invite you to register your
anonymous answer
here. We will
report on the responses in a future Food Label
News. Thank you! |
Q. For a
product that contains multi-component
ingredients (e.g., cherry pie contains fruit
filling and crust, both with sub-ingredients),
does FDA require that the ingredient statement
show each ingredient with sub-ingredients in parentheses, or
is it ok to list the subcomponents one time in
order by total weight in the whole product?
K.B.,
Manufacturer/Distributor, West Virginia
A. FDA
regulations allow a product that contains
multi-component ingredients to use either a
"composite" ingredient statement or an
"expanded" (parenthetical) ingredient statement.
Read more:
Reader Q&A page.
Submit a question
for Reader Q&A (no charge). |
No Halt in Food Labels Qualified Health Claims
On March 31, 2008, an FDA spokesperson confirmed
to Food Label News that FDA continues to work on
Qualified Health Claim
petitions as they are received.
This is despite continued pressure from some
members of Congress for FDA to cease allowing
the claims. Most recently on March 12, 2008, a
team of two senators and two House members wrote
a letter to FDA asking that the Agency report
back to the senders explaining how the Agency
plans to act regarding a December 17, 2008,
appropriations bill in which Congress "urged the
FDA not to use funds provided in this bill to
review requests for qualified health claims for
conventional foods or to issue letters
permitting such claims through exercises of
enforcement discretion."
Food Label News obtained a copy of the letter
from Senator Edward Kennedy’s Washington office.
The letter requested a response from FDA, but
according to a spokesperson from Kennedy’s office on April 2, 2008, FDA had not
yet responded.
Commentary: Food Label News reported on
pressures to halt the use of Qualified Health
Claims in
September 2007,
October 2007,
December 2007
and
February 2008.
Read Food Label News each month to stay informed
on this and other FDA food labeling
issues.
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Helpful Sources for Food Labels Rules
Food Consulting Company has compiled a list of
some of the company's most frequently used web
links for food and nutrition labeling
information. Food labelers of FDA-regulated
products can learn about food labeling
requirements from among the links:
Commentary: Food labelers sometimes find
that more information leads
to more questions. Let us do the research and
help you apply the information by ordering
Ongoing Regulatory Support.
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Food Consulting Company is Food Labels
Expert at Conference
Food Consulting Company president and founder,
Karen C. Duester, MS, RD, will moderate a
session on FDA food labeling requirements at the
20th Annual Federal Food Regulatory Conference,
hosted by Prime Label Consultants in Washington,
D.C. and scheduled for April 28 and 29, 2008.
Duester will explain how FDA and USDA labeling
regulations differ and lead discussion on
finding answers to labeling questions for FDA
regulated foods.
Food Label News readers can request a copy of
Duester's conference
handouts, which will be delivered
after the April 28-29 presentation.
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At Your Service: As a Food
Consulting Company client, all food label work
is filed and available to you online through
your Client URL (a secure webspace reserved for
you on our server.) This means your desk
is clean, your work is organized and your team
has access to food label information at any time
and at any place where
there is an internet connection.
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© 2008, Food Consulting Company.
www.foodlabels.com.
All rights reserved.
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