Every day, consumers select products off the shelf based on packaging claims such as “Fat-Free,” “Good Source of Protein,” and others. The packaging and labeling regulations are specific about how and when you can make a nutrient content claim. This blog will cover common claims and the criteria required to make those claims.
We will look at:
A note on RACC values: The available nutrient content claims are dependent on the latest RACC (Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed per eating occasion) values. You can find the list of RACC values here. Genesis R&D Foods uses the RACC value for your product to determine qualified claims.
A note on the CFR: The regulatory requirements for all available claims, including what criteria must be met for “good source,” “more,” “light,” and others, can be found in the CFR section 101.13 here.
From the CFR:
Because the use of a “free” or “low” claim before the name of a food implies that the food differs from other foods of the same type by virtue of its having a lower amount of the nutrient, only foods that have been specially processed, altered, formulated, or reformulated so as to lower the amount of the nutrient in the food, remove the nutrient from the food, or not include the nutrient in the food, may bear such a claim (e.g., “low sodium potato chips”).
To use the claim “Low Sodium,” on your packaging your food item must:
Example 1: Potato Chips
Your chips, therefore, qualify for a “low sodium” claim: “Low-sodium potato chips.”
Example 2: Plain White Rice
Your rice can use the claim “Rice, a low-sodium food.”
“High” is used to indicate that one serving of a food item contains 20 percent or more of the Daily Value (DV) for a nutrient. For Vitamin C, the DV is 90 mg, so anything qualifying for a “high” will show 20% DV on the label.
Example: One serving of orange drink
In comparison, “Good Source of Vitamin C” means that the food contains 10 to 19% of the Daily Value of Vitamin C.
“Sugar free” on a package can be used if:
This differs from “No Added Sugar,” which means there was no sugar or sugar-containing ingredients added during processing.
BUT…
There’s one more consideration here, too. If you use one of the claims listed above, but your food had exceeded DV threshold levels for fat, cholesterol, saturated fat or sodium, you have to use the disclosure “See nutrition panel for {nutrient} content.”
Example: Your item is “sugar free” but it contains more than 13 g of fat per serving, which exceeds the DV. You can use the “Sugar Free” claim, but the package must also say “See nutrition facts for fat content.”
This all sounds complicated and time-consuming. And it can be. The good news, however, is that our program – Genesis R&D Food Formulation & Labeling Software – has the claims regulations built in AND will tell you if your Recipe qualifies for any claims. With the click of a button, you can know if your recipe is “low in Sodium” or “a good source of Vitamin D,” etc.
The following instructions will use the Recipe “Sample Fruit Salad” as an example.
Please note: Make sure you have selected the correct regulation (Edit Label > General) first. If you want your claims to correspond to the 2016 labels and not the 1990 labels, you have to have the 2016 regulation selected.
Note: Although Genesis R&D makes it easy to quickly identify what claims your food qualifies for, it is a best practice to double-check with the CFR and consider all of the required conditions for making claims on your product packaging.
Watch this tutorial to learn how the Nutrient Content Claims Feature in Genesis R&D Foods works.