The Food and Drug Administration released a final ruling regarding requirements for raw meat and poultry labels, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2015. Under the new regulations, a manufacturer must note on the label if a solution, such as saline, has been added to the food, the concentration of that solution, as well as its specific ingredients.
Solution ingredients must be listed in descending order by weight, in an effort to give consumers as much information about what is in their food as possible.
“Consumers can better determine whether products containing added solutions are suitable for their personal preferences and dietary needs through the added solutions descriptive designation,” the FDA said in its report. “For example, consumers’ choices of meat and poultry products with added solutions with a high sodium content could have unintended health consequences if labels of these products were inadequate in revealing the information of added ingredients to the consumers.”
Producers are also prohibited from using the word “enhanced,” out of concern that it might mislead consumers.
Whether or not you support the new FDA ruling, it illustrates how quickly federal packaging and labeling rules can change. As such, manufacturers need to be prepared to make adjustments to their label strategies quickly and efficiently. Eliminating your reliance on third-party label printers can dramatically increase your agility while saving you money in the long run, preventing label waste and maximizing your return on investment. Consider investing in a high-quality color label printer like the Primera LX900, which will allow you to make subtle or dramatic changes to your labeling strategy in real time.
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