Getting the label right saves money and reputation

We have all heard in court cases on TV the words” You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. Whether that is exactly what is really asked in actual courts or is just a great sounding statement for TV is beside the point. The basis of the statement is something that very much applies to food labelling.

There are three reasons for the information that must be shown on food labels; legal, customer and business.

Not only is a legal requirement according to both the Food Standards Code and the Trade Practices Act that labelling must tell the truth, it is also essential that it be understood by the average person.

Customers need to be able to make informed decisions about the food they are buying, so having good and understandable labelling is essential. The best example of this is the food allergens, if the label does not clearly and correctly show what allergens are present in a food, a consumer may eat a food that may cause an allergic reaction and even anaphylaxis. Many of the legal requirements for labelling are intended to protect the customer and consumer.

Businesses want to put to put certain information onto their food labels to encourage people to buy that product. This includes pictures, descriptions and recipes.

The actual design and colours used on a label can change the buying patterns of people, so businesses spend a lot of money trying to get it right. Sometimes this means that the legal and customer information may not always be right. This can result in a significant expense to the business in terms of product recalls and the inevitable loss of sales.

If the information on the label is not correct, it can also result in major fines being imposed by courts. This has recently happened with a large supermarket in this country, when bakery products stated that they were “freshly baked”. However, some of the baked goods had been partially baked in another country some months previously. The final baking was done on the day of sale but this is not how most people would interpret the label, and that is the basis for the court findings.

A potential fine of around $ 1 million may be imposed by the court for each of the three breaches to Australian Consumer Law.

So getting a label right is not only essential to encourage sales, but to prevent huge fines, product recall and significant damage to a business’s reputation.

Written by Rachelle Williams, The Green Food Safety Coach.