Food exporters urged to comply with new US-FDA rule on food labeling

Food products that were packaged and labeled not according to the new requirements of the US can still be exported to the US provided that they use stickers to correct the packaging.

The sticker must disclose the trans fat and allergen contents of the food products.

The Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Washington (PTIC-Washington) has  verified with the  US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) the mechanisms for complying with the new food requirements.

The PTIC wants to help Filipino exporters adhere to the USFDA’s recent ruling that requires proper disclosure of trans fat and allergen contents in labels of food products to be sold in the US market.

The USFDA, starting Jan. 1, implemented a new food labeling that requires disclosure of trans fat contents in labels of food to be sold in the US market as a way of promoting healthy eating habits.

The USFDA said information on food labels about the amount of trans fat in foods will enable consumers to select food with lower levels of trans fat and thereby lower their intake of trans fat as part of a healthy diet. 

The USFDA estimates that three years after the effective date of implementation, trans fat labeling would prevent 600 to 1,200 cases of coronary heart disease and 250 to 500 deaths each year.

The regulation requiring allergens to be identified in labels of food imported into the US market likewise took effect Jan. 1 as provided in the Food Allergen Labeling Consumer Protection Act of 2004.

The US Congress cited the following findings to substantiate the measure’s approval into a law.

It is estimated that two percent of adults and about five percent of infants and children in the US suffer from food allergies.

Each year roughly 30,000 individuals require emergency room treatment and 150 individuals die because of allergic reactions to food.

Eight major food or food groups (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybean) account for 90 percent of food allergies.

PTIC said it was informed by USFDA authorities that food products that were already packaged and labeled, but did not conform with the new ruling, can still be sold in the US provided that they use stickers to correct the current stock of labels and meet the new requirements.

There are two possible ways of using stickers to make the corrections according to the USFDA. 

The first is by making a sticker for a "contains" statement. 

The sticker must be positioned immediately following (or right below) the ingredient list or adjacent to the ingredient list. 

The "contains" statement must include the names of the food sources of all major food allergens used as ingredients to make the packaged food. 

For example, if "sodium caseinate", "whey", "egg yolks," and natural peanut flavor" are declared in a products ingredient list, any "contains" statement appearing on the label immediately after or adjacent to the ingredient list is required to identify all three sources of the major food allergens present (e.g., "contains milk, egg, peanuts") even if by doing so it repeats the food source names of some major food allergens already declared in the ingredient list. 

In addition, the "contains" statement must appear in a type (i.e., print or font) size that is no smaller than that used for the ingredient list.

The second way of using the sticker is to make a new and corrected ingredient list with corrections to identify at least once the food source name of each major food allergen that was used as an ingredient to make the food. 

For example if an ingredient is a major food allergen but its common or usual name does not identify its food source as part of that name (e.g. sodium caseinate), then the food source name (e.g., milk) must be declared parenthetically immediately after that ingredient’s name (e.g.," sodium caseinate [milk]") within the ingredient list. 

If there are other ingredients (e.g. whey) that contain the same major food allergen, no additional labeling changes would be needed, because the food source name for the food allergen is already declared (e.g. "sodium caseinate [milk]").