In December 2016 there is going to be another change to the Food Information Regulations (FIR) with a requirement for vendors to declare nutritional information by displaying energy value in both kilojoules (kJ) and kilocalories (kcal) and the amounts in grams (g) of fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt.

This year food vendors were impacted by the Food Information Regulations. The most significant change was for vendors who pre-packed their food because it became a requirement to highlight any ingredients which contain one or more of the 14 major allergens, thus giving consumers fair warning of food they should avoid.

Reduce labellers who make and sell food on-site are only required to show the item name and allergens, plus irradiated or GM ingredients (if present). As opposed to full labellers who make and sell food off-site who need to show the item name and description, list of ingredients with allergens, the Quantitative Ingredient Declarations (QUID), the date mark, storage advise (if appropriate), instructions for use (if appropriate), name and address of the operator and a list of additives (if appropriate). What a mouthful!

We’ve helped our customers comply with the Food Information Regulations with a unique online service called Caterlabel, it allows vendors to create, find and print food packaging labels, removing the worry of meeting current legislation by always being up-to-date and compliant with current regulations. Caterlabel bolds allergens in ingredients lists when ‘ticked’ as present by the caterer and offers users the choice to print labels with use by date, price, nutrients, QUID and GDA’s.

Complying with the 2016 FIR changes is made easy with Caterlabel as it automatically calculates the nutritional values and can display the required nutritional information in a tabular or text format on food packaging labels.