Ingredient Labeling

[markk]

When you buy packaged food, the box lists the ingredients. I believe this is a law, but I don't know what kind. When you buy prepared food that's in a display case, and they serve some and weigh it, they don't have to list the ingredients? But when the supermarkets pack that food out for sale, the labels have the ingredients. Is this because they have to? When you go to a bakery, nothing in the display case has the ingredients listed. They don't have to either if they sell things loose?

Does anybody know the laws that govern this?

[tannerz]

this is a good place to start...

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/special/foodlabel/goodread.html

the FDA has a great search engine if you are looking for the actual law..

[MarketStEl]

That FDA document provides a good introduction to nutrition labeling and its evolution, and this one, linked from within, explains something about ingredient labeling. As this document makes clear, the regulations have gotten more explicit over the years as manufacturers kept trying to pass A off as B in various ways.

One other point about reading an ingredients list: Ingredients are always listed in descending order of their percentage by weight of the finished product (by volume in the case of liquid products). Anything that comprises 2% or less of the finished product is listed alphabetically in a group at the end. Component ingredients of specific ingredients are listed in (nested) parentheses (and brackets) following the ingredient name. I believe, but haven't bothered to confirm yet, that this practice was required in the original 1936 product labeling law, the Pure Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Edited February 12, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[markk]

Thanks. What I'm really trying to learn is, when do you have to, by law, list the ingredients in the food you sell. I mean, the law covers packaged and frozen foods.

But what about supermarkets and specialty stores? They don't have to provide the ingredients for the prepared foods that they sell in their display cases by the pound?

Is it the law that if they pre-pack them, then they have to label them as to the ingredients?

I couldn't get this answer from those links.

I know that some markets and stores do list the ingredients on little cards. I'm curious as to the laws governing the sale of items not commercially manufactured and packaged.

[Fat Guy]

As far as I know the NLEA regulations apply only to goods sold in interstate commerce. Essentially, anything shipped across state lines. Local products prepared and sold within a state are governed by that state's laws, which can vary. At least around here, in New York State, it seems there is no labeling requirement for prepared foods. I've noticed that some markets list ingredients on these foods anyway, but that appears to be voluntary -- they tend not to include proper federal Nutrition Facts labels but, rather, just list ingredients informally. Although, it's getting easier and easier to create full labels with widely available computer software -- you just type in all the ingredients and their weights, and the software pulls information from a database of thousands of ingredients and generates everything.

[SuzySushi]

When you buy packaged food, the box lists the ingredients.  I believe this is a law, but I don't know what kind.  When you buy prepared food that's in a display case, and they serve some and weigh it, they don't have to list the ingredients?  But when the supermarkets pack that food out for sale, the labels have the ingredients.  Is this because they have to?  When you go to a bakery, nothing in the display case has the ingredients listed.  They don't have to either if they sell things loose?

Does anybody know the laws that govern this?

←

Here it is: scroll about 1/4 way down the page to "Nutrition Labeling - Applicable Foods" and "Nutrition Labeling - Exemptions."

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fdnewlab.html

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

Something important to note that meat products that fall under the USDA's sphere of influence are subject to different labeling requirements than the food regulated by the FDA.