Blog
Learn about big data technology and trends for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail industries.
Product Data Management | USDA | regulation
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is globally recognized as being at the forefront of food composition analysis for decades. This week they launched their latest compositional analysis tool - FoodData Central - bringing the USDA and the research community closer toward unlocking data unification at the federal level with reference to food and beverage composition databases.
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New Label | Product Data Management
With the first quarter of 2019 coming to a close, we are less than one year away from the compliance date for large manufacturers to implement the revisions of the nutrition and supplement facts labels. "Label Insight’s database showed 45,691 active products have adopted the new nutrition label on the packaging," Thea Bourianne, Label Insight Solutions Consultant, MBA, RD, LDN The changes to the nutrition facts panel is significant for a number of reasons, but most importantly, it increases the transparency and understanding of nutrients like calories and serving sizes. The new nutrition facts label (NFL) has an updated look with a larger font for calories to improve awareness and emphasis on the calories foods contain.
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The day has finally come since the Vermont GMO (genetically modified organisms) labeling law was overturned back in July 2016. The USDA National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard final rule was pre-published yesterday on federalregister.gov. While many aspects of the Vermont law were carried over into the federal rule, there are some noteworthy new additions, such as the foods that are subject to disclosure and new options for disclosure for manufacturers.
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In October, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement about the concern of growing sesame allergies in the U.S. Today in the U.S, sesame is not one of the “Big 8” food allergens which include egg, fish, milk, peanut, shellfish, soy, tree nuts, and wheat – which currently require labeling. Sesame is, however, a major food allergen in countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and all member countries of the United Kingdom and the European Union, and therefore require explicit labeling of sesame in products sold there.
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You might've thought you were in the clear to eat romaine lettuce after the scare this past summer. Nope – scratch salad off the list of dishes you're planning to serve, or to bring if you're the guest. Here's why.
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Temperatures have started to cool, school is back in session, and Halloween candy is already being prominently displayed. You know what that means -- pumpkin spice season is upon us. In fact, Starbucks has already started selling its much-anticipated Pumpkin Spice Latte. Fans of the popular drink are thrilled they didn’t have to wait until September to get their “PSL fix.”
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These 4 Cs aren’t for carats, but regardless of cut or color, their benefits will give you clarity. What are the 4 C’s? Earlier this year, Label Insight attended Natural Products Expo West with a group of trendspotters on the hunt for what we should expect to see in the coming months and year. Topping the list of trends we saw were the “4 Cs”: collagen, coconut, chickpeas, and cauliflower.
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What is Quark? In March I was honored to speak at the Clean Label Conference in Itasca, Illinois on clean label ingredient trends. There I met Craig Sherwin who is the Technical Service Manager for Novozymes North America, a Dutch ingredient company. Craig was promoting an alternative to the conventional yeast-based lactase used in lactose-free dairy. He mentioned this being applied to a variety of dairy products, including a traditional Germanic product called “Quark”. Somewhere between the texture of a thick yogurt and ricotta cheese, quark is a creamy, cultured milk product that can be used in sweet and savory dishes, or eaten plain.
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Company Viewpoint | Trends & Research
Confusion and Concern about Sugar Ingredients matter today more than ever. According to Label Insight’s Shopper Trends study, 98% of shoppers think it’s important to consider the ingredients in the food products they purchase.
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The 4th semi-annual Food Labeling: Evolving Regulatory Compliance Conference took place February 27th and 28th, 2017 in Alexandria, Virginia. According to the conference description, the key theme this year was "recognizing and preparing for the impact of FDA & USDA label changes on special claims, serving size and ingredients, developing effective methods for transition and compliance, including reformulation and successfully managing the effect on consumer behavior and sales."
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