F&B Companies Use Labels To Generate Sales

The FDA has been changing the data it requires on F&B product labels, and companies have been busy complying. But many companies can find something else there as well: opportunities to boost sales. F&B companies are finding they can use those labels and other real estate on their packaging to provide nutritional and other data to drive growth. The information on the FDA label and what you pack onto your label and packaging can be important ingredients in boosting sales.

The FDA updated its nutrition facts label for packaged foods twice, in 2016 and again in 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual sales, mandating information designed to help consumers make healthy choices. Smaller manufacturers had to update labels by 2021. And manufacturers of single-ingredient sugars like honey and maple syrup had until July 1, 2021. Calories are now in big, bold letters, while new information is in – and old information is out.

Those changes, though, were just the beginning. The FDA also revised serving sizes based on what people typically consume, rather than what the manufacturer thinks they “should” consume. The idea is people want useful information, and the FDA wants to help them get it. Serving size for soda, for instance, changed from 8 to 12 ounces. Added sugars like sucrose and dextrose must be listed in grams and as a percentage of daily value.

Daily values (recommended amounts or maximums) also were updated. Vitamin D and potassium are required because, the FDA says, “Americans do not always get the recommended amounts,” but vitamins A and C aren’t required anymore. Companies, however, can provide additional information, thinking not so much outside the box, but beyond the label, that plays up ingredients or lack of ingredients, as well as nutritional and other attributes. There are often ways to use nutrition and other information to give consumers not just what they may need, but what they want.

Buying Online

Nutritional labels are just one opportunity to connect with consumers increasingly buying F&B through ecommerce. As consumers shop online, getting data out and being accessible to search engines can boost or hurt sales. Consumers frequently search online for foods based on specific…