New nutrition labeling rules go into effect on Sunday; understand

The new rules for food labeling in the country come into force on Sunday (9). In addition to changes to the information table and nutrition claims, the novelty will be the adoption of frontal nutrition labeling.

New products launched from October 9 onwards must already have the appropriate labels for the new rules. The changes in the labeling were established by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).

According to Anvisa, the standards aim to improve the clarity and readability of food labels and help consumers make more conscious food choices.

Understand what the new nutrition labeling will look like.

Nutritional information table

THE Nutritional Information Table will undergo significant changes, which include the use of only black letters and a white background, with the aim of avoiding the use of contrasts that hinder the legibility of the information.

The information provided in the table will also undergo changes. According to the new rules, the declaration of total and added sugars, energy value and nutrients per 100 g or 100 ml will be mandatory, to help in the comparison of products, as well as the number of servings per package.

In addition, according to Anvisa, the table should be located, in general, close to the list of ingredients and on a continuous surface, division is not accepted. It cannot be displayed in covered areas, deformed places or regions that are difficult to see.

The exception only applies to products in small packages (labeling area less than 100 cm²), in which the table can be presented in covered areas, as long as they are accessible.

Front nutrition labeling

Considered by Anvisa the greatest innovation of the new rules, the front nutrition labeling is an informational symbol that must appear on the front panel of the package. The idea is to clarify the consumer, in a clear and simple way, about the high content of nutrients that are relevant to health.

For this, a magnifying glass design was developed to identify the high content of three nutrients: added sugars, saturated fats and sodium . The symbol must be applied to the front of the package, at the top, as it is an area easily captured by the eye.

According to Anvisa, the placement of the magnifying glass symbol indicating one or more nutrients is mandatory, as the case may be, when the food has the following amounts of nutrients:

nutritional claims

Nutrition claims remain voluntary information under the new rules. Anvisa proposes changes in the criteria for use in order to avoid contradictions with frontal nutrition labeling.

Check the guidelines:

  • Claims cannot be at the top of the main panel if the food has front nutrition labeling
  • Foods with sodium front labeling cannot have claims for sodium or salt
  • Foods with saturated fat front labeling cannot have claims for total, saturated, trans fats and cholesterol
  • Foods with added sugar front labeling cannot have claims for added sugars and sugars

Deadlines for adequacy

According to Anvisa, for products that are already on the market to date, the deadlines for adaptation are:

  • until October 9, 2023 (12 months from the effective date of the rule) for food in general
  • until October 9, 2024 (24 months from the effective date of the standard) for food manufactured by a family farmer or rural family entrepreneur, solidarity economic enterprise, individual micro-entrepreneur, small-scale agro-industry, artisanal agro-industry and food produced in an artisanal way
  • until October 9, 2025 (36 months from the effective date of the standard) for non-alcoholic beverages in returnable packaging, observing the gradual process of replacing the labels

Source: CNN Brasil

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