Volume 9, Number 4 - April 2008

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Reader Q&A: Composite Ingredient Statements 

• No Halt in Food Labels Qualified Health Claims

• Helpful Sources for Food Labels Rules

• Food Consulting Company is Food Labels Expert at Conference

• At Your Service: Any-Time Access to Food Labels Files

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.

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:

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration - http://www.fda.gov/

• Code of Federal Regulations (Title 21 Food and Drugs, Part 101 Food labeling) - http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html

• Federal Register - http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html

• The National Organic Program - http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/

• Country of Origin Labeling - http://www.ams.usda.gov/cool/

• A Food Labeling Guide - http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flg-toc.html

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.

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.

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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