Nutrition & Food Labelling

Manufacturing

The UK’s transition period for departing from the EU ended on 31 December 2020.  Nutrition labelling in the UK continues to be regulated by retained regulation EU No. 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers and mandatory nutrition labelling applies to the majority of prepacked foods.

Nutrient values can be produced using one of three legally accepted methods:

  • Manufacturer’s analysis of food
  • Calculation from the actual average values of the ingredients used to prepare the food
  • Calculation from generally established and accepted data

The mandatory declaration requires energy (both in kJ and kcals) and the amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and salt. Nutrition information has to be given per 100g/ml and can additionally be given per portion. The regulation also allows elements of the mandatory nutrition declaration to be repeated on the ‘front of pack’ and research has shown that 9 in 10 shoppers agree it helps them to make informed decisions when purchasing food1.

Media/Caterers

The Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021 came into force on 6th April 2022 and qualifying businesses should display the calories per portion on menus or at the point of choice.  Nutritional information is also increasingly accompanying recipes in magazines, websites, cookery books and beyond. If more people are to eat healthier diets, they need to be able to make informed choices when planning meals or at the point of choice, whether it’s for a special occasion or a mid-week supper.

 

AB Food Nutrition can help you:

  • Analyse your new or current products quickly and cost-effectively just from your recipe (using calculation), and work with you by suggesting ways these can be amended to improve nutritional content or meet specific criteria
  • Provide a breakdown of the nutrient content of your foods or drinks per 100g/ml and per serving in a format that is compliant with EU labelling regulations including percentage Reference Intakes
  • Provide you with the nutrition information required to comply with the UK Government front of pack nutrition labelling scheme at no extra cost
  • Advise on any nutrition and health claims including 5 a day portion guidance that you could use to market your products or recipes
  • Calculate and provide the nutrient profiling score of your products as required by Ofcom broadcasting restrictions (if advertising on TV during children’s viewing times). The same model is also used to determine if products are in scope of The Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 which came into force on 1st October 2022, are HFSS (high fat, sugar and salt).
  • Impartial advice on nutrition labelling and acceptable format during artwork creation of your packaging or menus
  • Provide and advise on content for articles, PR or websites containing nutrition information based on science
Diabetes UK used term of ‘traffic lights’. UK Government ref to this scheme as the current voluntary colour coded front-of-pack labelling scheme. Diabetes UK. (2018). Public views on food labelling survey. ComRes interviewed 2,121 UK adults online, aged 18+ between 12-14th Jan 2018. Data weighting to be demographically representative of all UK adults by age, gender, region and social grade. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

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