It’s what’s in the product, not what’s out

This blog has reported many times on language in food labels that emphasizes what isn’t in the product: gluten, BPA, mercury and all manner of additives that consumers might be cautious about. Although warnings can be important and useful tools, why not take the opposite approach and show customers the things your product does contain?

That could prove to be a more productive use of label space and materials, because a special graphic or exclamation that draws attention to an ingredient might be able to be verified by the nutrition facts and lists of additives on the back.

Writing for the Winnipeg Free Press, Shamona Harnett discusses the classic example of how saying something is “fat-free” doesn’t tell a consumer much about the nutrition of the ingredients a food item does contain.

“Many processed foods that are low in fat are high in sugar and low in nutrients,” she writes. “Keep in mind that fat isn’t always an evil thing. An avocado, for example, is high in fat. However, most of it is the kind that helps protect you from heart disease.”

With this in mind, food manufacturers might want to think of using label solutions that enforce a connection between the different designs and graphics on a given package. For example, companies can use the different sizes of Primera LX400 labels to their advantage, perhaps by choosing a large paper-based label in the shape of a circle for the front of the item and a smaller one for the back, or vice versa.

Either way, the contents of these labels—and the products that they apply to—are what’s important, and deserve the appropriate ink, printers and label application systems to give them the right focus.