In response to the US Food and Drug Administration’s call for clearer nutrition information on smaller packages, US food giant Kraft Foods is launching improved nutrition labels that it says will make it easier for consumers to choose the portion size of the foods they eat.
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The new labels, which will appear on Kraft’s snack and beverage products that contain two to four servings, will provide nutrition information for the contents of the entire package, rather than just per serving. In addition, the total number of servings will be stated on the front of the package.
“We encourage manufacturers to provide the most accurate and useful nutrition information to consumers by taking advantage of the flexibility in current regulations on serving sizes and label food packages as containing a single serving if the entire contents of the package can reasonably be consumed at a single-eating occasion,” said Dr. Laura Tarantino, director of the FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in a 12 March 2004 letter to food manufacturers.
Kraft said it believes it is the first major food manufacturer to adopt this labelling policy following the FDA’s request. Up until now, the “Nutrition Facts” panels on smaller, multi-serving packages provided nutrition information only on a per serving basis and not for the entire package.
Lance Friedmann, Kraft’s senior vice president of global health and wellness said that with the new labels people can instantly see just what they’ll be consuming if they choose to eat the entire contents of a package.
The new labels will appear on Kraft’s snack and beverage products that contain two to four servings. If the package is typically consumed by one person at one time, nutrition information will be provided for the entire package. If use of the product is more mixed – sometimes consumed by one person, but usually by more than one person – nutrition information will be provided on both a per-serving basis and for the entire package. The front of the package will also state how many servings the package contains.
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By GlobalData“The new labels complement Kraft’s efforts to offer a broad range of portion-size choices to meet consumers’ varied nutritional needs, including snacks in small packages like its new Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs, Kraft Natural Cheese Sticks, Cracker Barrel Cheese Sticks and Planters nuts,” the company said.
The first Kraft product to carry the new label is its Ritz Chips “Big Bag”. The label on the Big Bag lists the nutrition information – including calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium – for both a single serving and the whole bag and the total number of servings is stated on the front of the package.
Some of the other snack and beverage products that will carry the new label include Planters Big Bag packages, Nabisco cookies and crackers in Go-Paks! and Big Bag packages, and ready-to-drink beverages such as Capri Sun Refreshers.
Outside the US, where regulations differ, selected smaller size packages will include enhanced information, including the total number of calories and advice that the package should be consumed on more than one occasion.
