The new food labeling rules completed 2 months in force in Brazil. The main novelty is that, since October, packages of food products have to have labels, on the front, indicating whether the food contains a large amount of sodium, added sugars and saturated fats.
To define what is considered “high content”, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) specified the maximum amounts of nutrients. See the “cutoff points” for high nutrient content in the table below:
| high content | Solid and semi-solid foods | liquid food |
| added sugar | 15 g or more per 100 g of food | 7.5 g or more per 100 ml of food |
| Saturated fat | 6 g or more per 100 g of food | 3 g or more per 100 ml of food |
| Sodium | 600 mg or more per 100 g of food | 300 mg or more per 100 ml of food |
| Source: Anvisa | ||
In this sense, foods that exceed these amounts, considered “cut points”’, are obliged to display a seal with a magnifying glass added with the expression “high in…”, with the respective identification of the exceeded nutrient. Before, these 3 substances, considered harmful to health and normally present in excessive proportions in ultra-processed foods, were indicated on the label, along with other ingredients. That is: there was no need for any highlight for them.
Another novelty is that now companies must inform the nutritional values in 100 grams of food. Before the law took effect, it was required to announce the nutritional value of the portion, which made it difficult for the consumer to compare two or more products, since each one showed a different fraction.
It was also optional to include the number of servings on the packaging. But now, with the change, this data helps the person to have a better idea of the amount of nutrients ingested and avoids variation in the size of the portions.
Furthermore, if until October the look of the nutritional table was shown on the product packaging at the company’s pleasure, this has changed. The new standard requires, in the first place, the use of a white background and black letters, making the information easier to read.
To make the location even easier, the table must be very close to the list of ingredients and cannot be placed in hidden areas or prone to deformation of the packaging, with the exception of products whose labeling area is smaller than 100 cm².
Another point of the new law, already in force, is the update of the reference values for calculating the percentage of daily values (%DV), which allows the control of the daily amount of calories and nutrients that a given dose or portion of food contains, as well as the inclusion information of total sugars, which can be digested and absorbed by the body; and those added, added during food processing (example: cane sugar; beet sugar; sugars from other sources; honey; molasses; molasses; brown sugar; cane juice; malt extract; sucrose; glucose; fructose; lactose; dextrose; invert sugar; syrups and maltodextrins).
Automation helps manufacturers not to make mistakes when updating their labels
The changes are many, and difficult to adapt, but the good news is that there are technologies that already carry out the entire process automatically, such as the solution from Golden IT, a specialist in standardized labels for the new food labeling.
There, for each company, a new label was developed, according to the specificities of the packaging, and which went into production with a simple command from the operator, when he wanted it. “With this, customers are already complying with the law, avoiding fines and problems with inspection, in addition to demonstrating to the market that they are aware of transmitting adequate information to consumers for their best choice of food”, explained Áureo Bordignon, CEO of Golden IT.
Maria Maria Soluções em Food Service is a Golden IT client. Since 2001, it seeks to meet the needs of cafes, emporiums, bistros, bars, restaurants, steakhouses, pizzerias, large events, pastry shops and other establishments linked to the food market outside the home: “Having Golden IT allows us greater control over our internal processes and product traceability”, clarifies José Sérgio Prado Pereira, director of Maria Maria.
In 2010, the company then acquired a Production Management and Control System, thus initiating an internal restructuring, in which departments were created and the chance to reorganize some processes. “Today, thanks to Golden IT, we have an updated and complete system. Golden IT is always available and adapts to the needs that arise with agility, allowing us to follow changes in the food industry, such as traceability control, which allows us to identify, for example, through the lot, when a product was sent to the customer and what was the raw material used in that specific batch, and so we have total control of outputs and quantities in stock”, points out José Sérgio, emphasizing that automation has made and makes a total difference in the productive capacity and organization of the business.
Áureo Bordignon alerts companies that have not prepared themselves, that the ideal is to rely on technology, which has the capacity to quickly create labels with the standards required by legislation and with much more agility when compared to the paper system, the calculator and to spreadsheets.
Fines for those who do not comply with the legislation
In fact, anyone who does not comply with the Resolution of the Collegiate Board (RDC) n.º 429/2020, of Anvisa, which deals with the nutritional labeling of packaged foods, and the Normative Instruction n.º 75/2020, which establishes the requirements technicians for declaring the nutritional label on packaged foods, is subject to sanitary infraction penalties, within the scope of Law No. 5 million and which may increase, depending on the size of the company, the size of the seriousness and the advantage obtained with the transgression, in addition to seizure, destruction and interdiction of the product, even suspension of sales and impediment to the manufacture of the product. And the setbacks do not stop there. According to the law, the offending establishment may be banned in whole or in part, have the merchandise registered canceled and be prohibited from advertising. In more extreme measures, there is a risk of revoking the licensing license of the establishment.
Food manufactured by small businesses, such as micro-entrepreneurs and family farmers, will have a longer period of adjustment to the law: 24 months after it comes into force. In the case of non-alcoholic beverages in returnable packaging, adequacy cannot exceed 36 months after the entry into force of the resolution.
Learn more: https://goldenit.com.br/.
