[FDA Home Page] [Table of Contents]

[U.S. Food and Drug Administration]

Ingredient Labeling: What's in a Food?

by Marian Segal

Mr. Doodle can call his hat whatever he likes. Pasta makers, however, have long had to be very specific about what they call "macaroni." That's because since shortly after the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed in 1938, macaroni, along with some other foods people commonly prepared at home in those days, was exempted from the law's requirement that food manufacturers list their products' ingredients on the food label. Instead, the new act provided for "standards of identity"--prescribed recipes--for these foods, which the manufacturers had to follow.

"The law resulted in standardized recipes for such foods as dairy products, mayonnaise, ketchup, jelly, and orange juice," says Elizabeth Campbell, director of the programs and enforcement policy division in the Office of Food Labeling of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "When a consumer bought a jar of jelly she knew it would have at least 45 percent fruit, as the standard provided, because that's what it takes to make jelly," she explained. "It's roughly half fruit and half sugar. People knew that because they used to make it themselves."

Well, maybe so, but we're in the '90s now, and with the fast pace of today's lifestyles, homemade breads and jellies mostly exist in Grandma's memories. It can hardly be taken for granted that people still know what's in those standardized foods. And yet, more and more, health-conscious consumers and people with dietary restrictions want and need to know what's in the foods they buy.

So, the law is changing to catch up with the times. FDA now requires that ingredients for all standardized foods be listed on the label, the same as for all other foods. This is one of several provisions of a final rule published in the Jan. 6, 1993, Federal Register concerning declaration of ingredients on food labels. (The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires full ingredient labeling on all meat and poultry products, including standardized products, such as chili or sausages.)

Two of the provisions of the rule on declaration of ingredients respond directly to the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA). One is the requirement to list ingredients in standardized foods; the other requires the label to list FDA-certified color additives by name.

Before passage of the NLEA, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act did not require flavorings, colorings or spices to be identified by their common or usual names. Instead, they could be declared collectively under the general terms "flavorings," "spices" or "colorings." Under the NLEA, however, color additives that FDA certifies for food use--FD&C colors Yellow No. 5, Red No. 40, Red No. 3, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2, and Green No. 3, and their lakes (specially formulated nonsoluble colors)--now must be declared on all foods except butter, cheese, and ice cream. Colors exempt from certification, such as caramel, paprika, and beet juice, do not have to be specifically identified; they can still be listed simply as "artificial colors."

People often look to the ingredient label for health reasons--perhaps to avoid substances they are allergic or sensitive to--or for religious or cultural reasons.

Manufacturers must comply with the requirements for ingredient listing of standardized foods and declaration of certified color additives by May 8, 1993. Other provisions of the final rule become effective May 8, 1994.

Caseinate

If it says "nondairy," does it mean no milk? Many people are not aware that certain products claiming to be nondairy, such as some coffee whiteners, contain a milk derivative called caseinate, in this case used to whiten effectively.

"People expect there to be no milk ingredients in products marketed as dairy substitutes," Campbell says, "but some states require the label 'nondairy.' This issue is particularly important for people with milk allergies. The nondairy label may lead consumers to think that caseinates are not milk derived. Furthermore, it guides people away from even checking the label for milk-derived ingredients."

Under the new rule, caseinate will have to be identified as a milk derivative in the ingredient statement when it's used in foods that claim to be nondairy. This requirement will help to flag it for casein-sensitive people.

Protein Hydrolysates

Consumers will get more information about protein hydrolysates in their food, too. Hydrolyzed proteins (proteins broken down by acid or enzymes into amino acids) are added to foods to serve various functions. They can be used as leavening agents, stabilizers (to impart body or improve consistency, for example), thickeners, flavorings, flavor enhancers, and as a nutrient (protein source), to name a few uses.

Since the law does not require flavors to be identified by their common or usual names, some in industry have made a practice of declaring protein hydrolysates as "flavorings" or "natural flavors" even when they are used as flavor enhancers--a use not exempt from declaration. After reviewing the data, FDA concluded that protein hydrolysates added to foods as flavorings always function as flavor enhancers as well and, as such, must be declared by their common or usual name.

The source of protein in hydrolysates used for flavor-related purposes also must be identified. Previously the general terms "hydrolyzed vegetable protein," "hydrolyzed animal protein," or simply "hydrolyzed protein" were permitted, but the new regulation requires identification of the specific protein source, such as "hydrolyzed corn protein" or "hydrolyzed casein." There are two reasons for this.

First, the law requires that the common or usual name of a food should adequately describe its basic nature or characterizing properties or ingredients. FDA reasoned that the more general terms "animal" and "vegetable" don't meet this requirement because protein hydrolysates from different sources best serve different functions. Manufacturers select protein hydrolysates from specific sources depending on how they will be used in a product. Hydrolyzed casein is generally used in canned tuna, for example, whereas hydrolyzed wheat protein is used in meat flavors.

Second, the source of the additive is particularly important to consumers who have special dietary requirements, whether for religious, cultural or health reasons. If hydrolyzed casein is added to canned tuna, for example, it must be identified as such, rather than simply as "hydrolyzed protein" or "hydrolyzed milk protein."

Furthermore, after reviewing comments on the June 1991 proposal, the agency concluded that to minimize confusion, the source of protein in hydrolysates used for non-flavor-related purposes should also be identified. Thus, the source of all protein hydrolysates--regardless of use--will now have to be identified.

Other final provisions of the new rule will:

Marian Segal is a member of FDA's public affairs staff.

When Is Peach Juice Apple Juice?

When it comes to juice labeling, there are those who would disagree with Shakespeare's sentiment that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." If the label implies that it's peach juice, they contend, it shouldn't consist mostly of apple and white grape juice--especially without saying so on the label.

The final rule on percentage juice declaration published in the Jan. 6, 1993, Federal Register will help remedy this problem. Beginning May 8, 1993, juice manufacturers will have to declare the total amount of juice in a beverage. (As this article goes to press, FDA is proposing to exempt from this requirement until May 8, 1994, foods that claim to be beverages containing vegetable or fruit juice.)

In addition, when the label of a multi-juice beverage names one or more, but not all, the juices in the beverage, and if the named juices are present in minor amounts, manufacturers must either:

The rule-making process on declaration of percentages of juice goes back many years, beginning with debates over standards of identity for diluted juice beverages. In 1974, FDA proposed a regulation to establish common or usual names for juice drinks instead of developing standards.

After many objections, tie-ups, and reworkings--including a final regulation in 1980 that never had an effective date and two more proposals in 1984 and 1987--the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act came along in 1990 requiring that "a food that purports to be a beverage containing juice must declare the percent of total juice on the information panel."

But this alone would not solve the problem of misleading labels. Many manufacturers today use bland juices, like apple or white grape, as diluents instead of water and call the product a 100 percent juice blend.

"Some of these labels are just not informative," Campbell says. "The label says 100 percent juice blend or 100 percent natural juices, but only the expensive juices--the raspberry or strawberry, which are in smaller amounts--appear prominently on the principal display panel. You have to look for the grape and the apple in the fine print."

To correct this, FDA elaborated on the 1990 law, proposing that manufacturers be required to declare not only the total percent of juice, but the percent of each juice named or pictured on the label of a multi-juice beverage.

In responding to the proposal, however, manufacturers protested that this requirement would be impractical and difficult to comply with. They explained that juice, as an agricultural product, varies in strength, flavor, solids, and color. If they were required to state a percentage, they wouldn't have the flexibility necessary to adjust the amount of juice--using a little bit less or a little bit more or a little sweetening--to get the desired flavor. Nor would they be able to vary their formulas as driven by fluctuations in cost or availability of individual juices.

In addition, they said the amount of juice they use in their formulations is proprietary information, and requiring them to reveal this information in 1 percent increments would force them to divulge their secret formulas.

The final rule allowing a statement that the beverage is flavored, or declaring the amount of juice named in a 5 percent range, addresses manufacturers' concerns, while providing more accurate information for consumers.

--M.S.

Standardized Foods

To comply with the new food labeling laws, manufacturers now will have to list ingredients that are in standardized foods. The following product categories of standardized foods are: [FDA Home Page] [Table of Contents]