The Food Industry is a complex network of diverse businesses that supply most of the food consumed by the world’s population. This section will help to keep you up to date with real-life events that could impact any part of the Food Industry.
Food labelling claims are a great way to sell your product – especially at retail level, when the label is compared to that of a competitor product. However, claims often come at a cost if testing is required. This article explores which permitted claims require testing, and which do not. Nutri...
Nutritional enrichment can be defined as the addition of nutrients – usually micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) – to a product, with the overall goal of improving or enhancing the quality or the value of the end product. Enrichment can be used in foods for nutritionally vulnerable population...
The end of January 2023 saw the publication of the long-awaited draft regulations for labelling and advertising of foodstuffs. This is a second draft, which means that R. 429 is no longer applicable. The past: The current regulations (R. 146) were published in 2010. All of the claims included in ...
[one-half-first] Food allergies are widely acknowledged and recognised as a public health priority. Global harmonisation of food allergen labelling and control will expand consumer protection and reduce trade barriers. The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) plays a pivotal role in establishing stan...
In food production, fermentation is described as the process by which carbohydrates are broken down to produce alcohol or organic acids using microorganisms. Fermentation has been used for many years for the purpose of stabilisation of perishable food products in the case of pickling, and is very we...
Undeclared allergens are often present in food due to cross-contact that occurred somewhere along the supply chain. But it is challenging to determine and assess the risk of allergen cross-contact in agricultural raw materials, because of the complexity of supply chains, the sporadic and unpredictab...
When you include nutritional information on your product label, whether voluntary or mandatory, there are a number of considerations regarding the testing that you do. It is important to understand that the sampling of your product must be done correctly. If it is not, it could negatively impact the...
At FACTS we are constantly inundated with questions about nutritional testing. In a previous article we introduced our infographic explaining sampling for nutritional testing. Now we’ve put together a comprehensive Q&A infographic of some of the considerations for putting a nutritional inform...
We live in a country that is a study in contradictions. As of April 2021, the food poverty line – also referred to as the ‘extreme’ poverty line – is R624 per person per month. This refers to the minimum amount of money that an individual needs to afford the minimum required daily energy and...