New era of labeling rules brings legal challenges

It’s worthwhile to frequently revisit the ever-changing regulations around what brands can say and do to promote their products’ nutritional benefits. If your company is caught with a noncompliant claim on its packaging, you may end up facing fines or lawsuits. Staying current on the rules and ensuring items are in line with the law can represent the difference between successfully marketing a food item and suffering monetary losses.

The following are a pair of recent legal actions taken against food manufacturers. These cases demonstrate the current state of two complex and evolving issues in the industry: genetically modified organism labeling and use of the word “natural.”

Nestle challenged over non-GMO seal
One of the most contentious and debated concepts in food production today revolves around GMOs. With multiple organizations, in both the public and private sectors, competing to create comprehensive GMO labeling policies, there is room for disagreement. According to Food Dive, a recent class-action lawsuit against Nestle deals with the intersection of a few different types of GMO disclosure. Nestle uses a “no GMO ingredients” seal created by its own designers, and the suit alleges consumers will confuse Nestle’s mark with a stamp of approval from the Non-GMO Project.

The crux of Nestle’s argument is that its seals comply with federal laws and have the backing of a third-party verification group. Food Dive pointed out that this kind of label confusion is one unintended consequence of the in-progress nature of GMO labeling laws. Furthermore, the finalized rules may actually favor definitions of “non-GMO” closer to Nestle’s than the non-GMO project’s, potentially vindicating the food manufacturer’s choices.

General Mills ditches “natural”
A recent report from Forbes contributor Beth Kasierman revealed another lawsuit against a food company, this one resulting in direct action. An investigation discovered Nature Valley products contain glyphosphate, a chemical used in pesticides. That revelation was followed by legal action from a group comprising Beyond Pesticides, Moms Across America and the Organic Consumers Association.

General Mills will now stop labeling the affected Nature Valley granola bars “Made with 100 percent natural whole grain oats,” a condition of the settlement with the organizations that sued. As Kaiserman pointed out, “natural” is currently undefined with regard to food labeling. That may make companies feel they can apply the tag to a surprisingly wide selection of products. However, in cases such as Nature Valley’s, the word choice will become contentious.

When it’s time to revise your products’ labels and get them in line with rules and expectations, check out label printers at Optimedia Labs’ U.S. page or Canadian site.