SF-June-20

@specialityfood F ine foodmakers work incredibly hard to develop new and exciting products, from farmhouses cheeses to speciality beverages. But the work of bringing a new product to market isn’t finished until a final important hurdle is jumped: the packaging. For those whose true passion is their product, packagingmay come as an afterthought, but there are countless reasons why it should be a significant priority. First, for conveying your brand’s message to customers, there is no better 18 tool. “Packaging is how brands communicate to consumers,” says Karen Yates-Hill, commercial director at coffee manufacturer Lincoln and York. “It shows the brand’s personality and its key values through the use of colour, texture and wording.” Additionally, there are the obvious benefits – protecting food and prolonging shelf life as well as providing vital information on allergens and ingredients for customers with health concerns – and the less apparent aspects, such DTM PRINT 0049 611 92770 sales@dtm-print.eu dtm-print.eu LX600e Color Label Printer is a compact and lightweight desktop colour label printer with a maximum print width of 127 mm (5’’) and a print speed of up to 114 mm (4.5’’) per second. “We are delighted to introduce the LX600e to the EMEA market,” said Andreas Hoffmann, managing director of DTM Print. “It offers many useful features, including a wider print width, higher print quality and easier to manage consumables than other similarly-priced colour label printers. We believe that it will appeal to a wide range of companies and organisations that require the best-looking labels that they can produce on a desktop colour label printer.” Typical applications include product labels for coffee, wine, water, bakery, confectionery, meat, cheese, and hundreds of other specialty and gourmet foods. The printer is also ideal for manufacturing, laboratory, security, government, retail, convention and meeting badges, and a wide variety of different markets. as playing a role in a company’s corporate social responsibility strategy. Used effectively, packaging can be a tool to both attract and inform customers. Amatter of life and death With the rise of the conscious consumer, transparency in package labelling is more important than ever. A 2019 report by tech solutions provider Brother explains: “Controversies around food safety lapses combined with a trend for healthier, more informed eating is driving the need for clarity on the ingredients, allergens and nutritional value in food products.” Inmany cases, the information provided on a food label can be a matter of life and death. In 2016, 15-year-oldNatasha Ednan-Laperouse went into cardiac arrest on a flight after eating a sandwich fromPret a Manger. The sandwich contained sesame, which Natasha was allergic to, but the ingredient was not listed on the packaging. Food regulations at the time did not require fresh, pre- packaged foodmade on the premises where it was sold to be individually labelled with allergen or ingredient information. The high-profile case helped to usher in “Natasha’s Law”, a new requirement for food businesses to include full ingredients labelling on all pre-packaged food, and it goes to show just how crucial it is for food makers to get package labelling right. When it comes into effect in 2021, Natasha’s Lawwill be the latest in a long list of conditions that food producers are required to follow. “The legal requirements relating to food product labels and packaging are extensive,” says Sarah Howarth, of Howarth Food Safety. “There is a core of mandatory requirements which all products must follow based on The Food Information Regulations 2014, with further compulsory legislation for certain groups and types of products.” The core requirements generally include information such as the use-by date, the place of origin, allergens, ingredients, nutritional value, storage conditions and cooking instructions if relevant. In the UK, there are 14 key allergens that must be declared, some of which include cereals containing gluten, milk and nuts. According to the World Allergy Organisation, the UK has some of the highest prevalence rates of allergic conditions in the world, with over 20% of the population affected by one or more allergic disorders. Incorrect labelling is one of the leading causes of product recalls. Failure to comply with the requirements could result in a company being served an improvement notice or a criminal prosecution being brought against the business. “If mislabelling is done deliberately it is fraud, whether it poses a food safety threat or not,” a Food Standards Agency spokesperson says. “Falsely describing, advertising or presenting food is an offence and there are many laws that help protect consumers against dishonest labelling and misleading descriptions.” Building trust Of course, when a brand is scrutinising their product labelling, it is not only allergy sufferers they should have inmind. Increasingly, consumers are considering their health concerns and ethical beliefs when purchasing food products, and including relevant information can help to build trust between brands and customers. For example, meat-free diets are on the rise across Europe, and consumers now expect the food industry to label vegetarian and vegan food so they canmake an informed decision. Elsewhere, consumers with eating restrictions due to a religion or diet also benefit frombeing given as much nutritional detail as possible. However, when it comes to descriptive phrases, brands can run into problems. Emotive but effectively meaningless words such as natural, fresh, pure and authentic can be classed as misleading when used incorrectly. “Products must be as described on the label and not misrepresented. This includes wording, trademarks and brand names, pictures and symbols on pack,” says Sarah. “If a product name states or implies a health or nutrition claim, it must be accompanied by a relevant authorised health or nutrition claim.” The use of this language is monitored, and complaints can be made to the Advertising Standards Authority as well as Local Trading Standards offices. Further examples of unacceptable labelling include the use of images THE COMPLETE PACKAGE Through clear and honest packaging, brands can not only provide vital information to customers but also promote their genuine credentials