LabelCalc® Guides Importer Global Brands Through U.S. Regulations

Scottsdale, Arizona-based-Global Brands, (a Dollar Only Wholesale Company), is a large importer. Boasting a combination of key executive experience totaling more than 40 years, Global Brands services classes of trade nationwide with a wide range of premium offerings including candy, cereal, chocolate, cookies, teas, toaster pastries and fruit snacks. Retail outlets comprise supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchandisers and dollar stores. The company has four warehouses located in Levittown, PA; Laredo, TX; El Paso, TX; and San Jose, CA.

Situation

All food manufacturers are required by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prepare accurate nutrition labels for their products. For importers such as Global Brands, it is equally essential to obtain specialized regulation and compliance support to help navigate the complicated arena of FDA rules. Élan Wetterschneider, vice president of operations, turned for help to LabelCalc™, the only online nutrition analysis tool that instantly generates precise, up-to-date FDA-compliant nutrition facts panels. LabelCalc also offers cutting-edge consultancy services, enabling clients to benefit from the company’s wealth of expertise in regulation issues.

LabelCalc Provides Product and Services Package

On examining nutritional information for some of Global Brands’ imported chocolates, LabelCalc president Lucy Needham immediately identified three European Union-permitted E colorings that are prohibited in the U.S. She confirmed her discovery with the FDA and effectively counseled the company on remedial measures. In addition, she corrected the format of some of Global Brands’ existing labels, in which nutrients were out of sequence and featured characters in place of commas. Furthermore, Needham advised the company to modify the “Servings per Container” figure, which erroneously featured decimal places. This contradicted the FDA ruling that it must be rounded to the nearest 0.5 serving for packages containing between two and five servings, and to the nearest whole serving for packages with five or more servings. The “Serving Size” declaration also needed to be altered to omit the word “approx”, since the FDA mandates it should remain a standard, constant figure. Needham explained that it is, however, possible to qualify “Servings per Container” with the words "about" or "approx." Her meticulous review and practical recommendations effectively prevented Global Brands from making some potentially costly importing and labeling errors within the U.S. marketplace.

“LabelCalc is fabulous,” says Wetterschneider. “It’s a great one-stop resource that takes care of our entire nutrition analysis needs and manages all the details we don’t have the time and resources to handle ourselves. And it’s a pleasure working with Lucy – she’s very knowledgeable and answers our questions instantly or within a 15-minute response time. I love dealing with her and highly recommend her services to my colleagues in the food business.”

Summary and Conclusion

“Our mission at LabelCalc is to deliver a total business solution that helps our clients maximize efficiency,” noted Needham. “In addition to our standard support services, we also continually educate and advise clients regarding changes in compliance regulations as well as evolving food trends.”

This comprehensive package makes LabelCalc unique in the food industry. Previously, in order to generate nutrition panels, manufacturers were dependent upon complex, expensive and time-consuming options such as laboratories, CDs and third-party consultants. Plus, they routinely had to pay exorbitant fees for customer support, sometimes as much as $500 per answer to individual questions.

LabelCalc is easy to use and does not require new computer software and set-up procedures, specialized training or manuals. Customers enjoy 24-hour access to an online nutrition calculator and FDA facts panel design module.

More about LabelCalc

LabelCalc is one of two nutrition analysis applications developed by FoodCalc® LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Founded in 2003, FoodCalc creates unique online applications for food manufacturers, restaurants, dieticians and chefs. For more information, visit www.LabelCalc.com, email info@LabelCalc.com or call (888) 804-0001.

Global Brands Nutrition

Customer: Global Brands, Scottsdale, Arizona

The Challenge: Offer Global Brands a one-stop solution for nutrition analysis, together with expert customer service and support.

Executive Summary: As one of the largest importers in the United States, it is essential for Global Brands to obtain specialized regulation and compliance assistance to help navigate the complicated arena of FDA rules. LabelCalc successfully identified three U.S.-prohibited E colorings and corrected the format of some of Global Brands’ existing labels, effectively preventing the company from making some potentially costly importing and labeling errors within the U.S. marketplace. In addition, LabelCalc routinely serves as a knowledgeable resource for all Global Brands’ queries.

LabelCalc Features:

Online nutrition analysis tool designed to service small-to-medium sized food manufacturers.
Clients establish secure user accounts where they can create FDA-compliant food labels and store recipes.
Clients can conveniently access their accounts and generate labels from any online computer.
Entire process takes about 25 minutes and includes five easy steps - entering ingredients, entering serving size, selecting voluntary nutrient values, selecting a nutrient facts panel, and determining claims and allergens.

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