As consumers demand more information, critics propose more transparent food labels

There are changes currently moving through the food and wine industry on how to design custom labels. As consumers demand more transparency from companies and producers on what is in their product, researchers and critics have begun to propose and test new labels conforming to this demand. One such label was hypothesized in a New York Times editorial, written by food critic Mark Bittman.

“Beyond honest and accurate nutrition and ingredient information, it would serve us well to know at a glance whether food contains trans fats; residues from hormones, antibiotics, pesticides or other chemicals, genetically modified ingredients or indeed any ingredients not naturally occurring in the food,” wrote Bittman.

As reported by this blog, many retailers and producers are beginning to adopt this model of custom labeling. While the stigma may be that only non-conventional businesses such as organic wineries, gluten-free beer brewers and more health-conscious food producers such as those sold by high-profile retailer Whole Foods are the only ones working toward providing consumers with these custom labels, many conventional businesses are doing so as well.

For example. Bonny Doone is a conventional winery that includes every ingredient that went into making every bottle of wine on its wine labels. The Proposition 37 currently making headlines in California will require any and all foods sold in California to state whether the product contains genetically modified ingredients.

Although how a company chooses to market its products is its own prerogative – and represented by the way they design their custom labels – the general consumer and critical demand is beginning to lean in favor of businesses that use labels with more transparency.