Front Of Package - Food Nutrition Info

Welcome to Branded Group’s first-ever blog where we plan to offer news and views on all things pertaining to consumer-packaged goods (CPG) as well as the means and methods of promoting products and services in the consumer and durable household user’s marketplace.

Kicking off this inaugural issue is a topic of interest to anyone in the food and specifically food nutrition field. As you would know the area of interest to most nutritionists and food scientists of late concerns the marketing of highly processed packaged foods that may or may not offer the best nutritional value to the average consumer. By now consumers are aware of the information usually found on the back of most packaged goods known as the Nutrition Facts Table (NFT) which provides the user with information meant to inform them of the products’ ingredient values based on serving size and daily usage. Nonetheless as good as this panel of information has been in advising and informing people of what the product contains in terms of sodium, sugars, cholesterol levels, saturated fats etc. it can be easily overlooked by the modern day overly rushed shopper who looks only at the front of the package and may not pick up on the potentially unhealthy levels of one or more of the ingredients included. Thus, the reason for Front of Packaging (FOP) labelling laws being enacted in various jurisdictions in Europe and elsewhere and now making their way to Canada.

In fact, the Government of Canada introduced this legislation in July of 2022 and food processors have until January 1, 2026, to update their packaging. The idea behind this is that it will make it easier for the consumer to see the highlighted information concerning the nutritional value of the product.

Of key concern noted in the government’s information page are the risks associated with frequent use of foods containing high levels of saturated fats, sugars or sodium which can lead to increased health risks such as stroke, obesity and heart disease to name a few.

The key details pertaining to these potential health risks will now be seen on the front of the package for discerning customers  to take note of.

Example of the new FOP Panel

All of this new information on the front will now present a choice for the average buyer.

a) read further and flip over to the NFT for more info on the back panel

or

b) leave the product on the shelf and walk  away.

or

c) buy it without the added insight offered by the brand owner

You can learn more about this on Health Canada’s page herein,

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/nutrition-labelling/front-package.html

You might be wondering what this new detailed information panel will do to the sales of the products, having to use an FOP and how will brand owners respond.

Sue Mah of Canadian Food Focus outlines the pros and cons of such a system and highlights what transpired in Chile when that country enacted similar rules back in 2016.

Read Sue’s excellent article here - https://canadianfoodfocus.org/health/new-front-of-package-nutrition-labelling-in-canada/

Needless to say, if nothing else it will now likely take you longer to shop given the amount of information you will want to be studying as you go all in an effort to make us better advised and informed consumers.

I for one support this and look forward to its inception next year.

MD