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NOV2017 FOOD FOCUS THAILAND
STRATEGIC
R & D
Examplesof free-fromclaimonproduct labelswhich iscommon
sighting include:
• Free-from sugar, sugar free
• Fat free, trans fat free
• Cholesterol freeand includespecific requirementssuchas
gluten free,pork free,SO
2
free,wheat free,milk free,nut free,peanut
free etc.
It should be accepted that when a nutrition claim appears on
labelling, foodandbeverageproductswill be reachedbyconsumers
directly. Therefore, the manufacturers who use this marketing tool
will get anadvantageon thenutritionclaimbecause theproduct can
talkby itself toconsumer resulting in increaseddemandof products.
However, if the manufacturers use a nutrition claim as the
marketing tool, they need to study the necessary requirements
according to the food regulations to avoid having any conflict of
production and business organization.
Studying the legal requirements of the country of distribution is
amustfirstconsideration. Ingeneral, the law thatdealswith this issue
is theFoodLabelingRegulation.
To use the word “no” or “without” (free from), it should be
considered in parallel between the product formulation and food
regulation from the phases of the new product development, study
of product information, ingredientsand rawmaterial requirements in
both lab scaleand plant scale.
In the labscaleor labexperiments, the foodmanufacturersshould
knowall theproduct formulationandconsideronspecific ingredients
topresent on the label.
For developing to plant scale or manufacturing process, food
manufacturers should know the requirement of production plant to
reduce the risk of cross-contamination between products to ensure
that each product will not be contaminated by substances which
labeled “Free from” on its label.
Ensuring that consumers receive appropriate information as
“free-form label” is to show the document of product validation and
verification.However, therearemany food related regulations in the
country and the most recent food regulations have been enforced
such as Notification of Ministry of Public HealthNo.182 (1998) Re:
NutritionLabeling,Notificationof theMinistryofPublicHealth (No.384)
B.E.2560 (2017) “Gluten-free Labeling”, Regulation (EC) No
1924/2006,LabelingRegulation21CerPart101andCodexNutrition
andHealthClaim (CAC/GL23-1997).
The implementation of the free-from concept should beginwith the
phases of the new product development, labeling validation such as
productdesignconcept, labelof ingredients, rawmaterial inspection, risk
assessmentandstandarddeviation to the label aswell as theproduction
processof rawmaterialsandfinishproduct.Therefore, themanufacturers
should have approval inspections for the efficient and accurate
development of products.
However, free-from labelingapplications for suchhealthclaimsmust
be reviewedby theglobal standard for foodsafetysuchas theBRC, IFS
and SQF which are globally recognized certification as a food safety
management.
If themanufacturers use
anutritionclaimas themarketing tool,
they need to study thenecessary
requirements according to
the food regulations
