Getting specific may help healthy food labels

Consumers can get confused by the variety of different food labels in the supermarket. While there are some descriptors that have official legal names, others are simply adjectives that don’t match up to anything in particular. Companies can use food and beverage labels to try and convey the truth to customers and avoid making any false claims.

Bloomberg recently looked at some of the contradictory terms that can lead to issues for food buyers. These range from labels that pertain to specific ingredients, such as whether or not something has “added sugar,” to claims of whether or not a product can “help” with any particular medical condition or health defect.

The latter provides some particularly difficult problems if food producers aren’t careful: the Food and Drug Administration only needs to approve a label that claims a product helps with something specific. This means that a food company might be able to make a general claim about what their product does that passes without the need for oversight.

The FDA is paying more attention to what food packages say because it’s looking to update its current definitions. In an official statement, the organization specifically said that it would address the meaning of the seemingly broad term “healthy.” The statement also hinted at final rules around labels that could be on the horizon.

Manufacturers can manage multiple label types with the same printer, especially if they choose something as versatile as the Primera LX900 Color Label Printer, a perfect unit for small and large label runs. Learn more about this product by visiting either our U.S. store here or our Canadian store here. You can also see other related accessories available for this printer, including ink.