Labelmania!

This time next year, we may very well be looking back on 2006 as “The Year of the Label.”

As of Jan. 1, 2006, FDA required food companies to list the amount of trans fat on their labels. While there is an exception for products that have less than 0.5 grams of total fat per serving, this ruling is quite expansive and already has resulted in a tremendous number of companies reformulating their products and changing cooking materials to comply. The FDA’s estimate that trans-fat labeling will prevent up to 1,200 coronary heart disease cases and up to 500 deaths per year has food marketers thinking ahead to future health-claim opportunities. Once the reformulation area is addressed, look for the trans-fat issue to play a major factor in new-product development.

Also beginning on Jan. 1, food companies are required by law to label, in “plain language,” the eight allergen groups. While this does not offer the potential marketing opportunities of the trans-fat issue, if you personally have experienced a severe allergic episode, or have even been with someone who has, this really makes a lot of common sense. The “plain language” requirement will allow those with allergies to more readily identify products containing tree nuts, milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, peanuts, soybeans and wheat.

Adding to the above items already in place, FDA is expected to take action in two other areas later this year which will affect labels and health claims. By late summer, the agency is expected to issue a proposal on the use of the term “gluten free” on labels and packaging copy. Also coming this year will be efforts by FDA and USDA to further define the term “whole grain” as it applies to labeling and health claims relating to the government’s Dietary Guidelines and My Pyramid programs.

And to whom will corporate management and marketing turn for solutions to the challenges presented by all of these new labeling regulations? Of course, it’s you, our industry’s R&D and product-development community.

Rather than the old cliché of “good news, bad news,” the above scenario is very possibly a “good news, better news” plot line. The “good news” is that all of this reformulation and new-product activity will once again allow you to demonstrate the essential nature of your contributions to your company’s success, profitability and well being, which should lead to the “better news”—increased job security for each and every one of you.