rules for listing ingredients on labels? (incl. in brackets)?

[John Nagelson]

Food ingredients have to be listed on labels in weight order.
But what's the rule with brackets?

E.g. on a jar of Asda's "Exotic Conserve" (barcode 5 050854 597954),
the ingredients are listed as follows:

Exotic Fruits (Passion Fruit, Pineapple, Mango, Lemon and Guava)
Sugar
Gelling Agents (Pectin, Carob Bean Gum)
Preservative (Potassium Sorbate)

Does this mean there's more passion fruit than pineapple?

Does it mean there's more pineapple than sugar?

Specifically:

1) do ingredients INSIDE BRACKETS have to be listed in weight order
too?

2) are there any rules about what ingredients can be bracketed
together and what can't?

E.g. say a company makes a product with ingredients as follows:

A - 30%
B - 25%
C - 20%
D - 15%
E - 10%

Would they be able to invent a category including A and E but not B,
C, and D, and use a label that says:

X (E and A)
B
C
D

And what about inventing a category B, C, D, and E but not A, and
using a label that says

Y (E,D,C and B)
A

?

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who knows the rules in detail
here - including reference to legislation or statutory regulation if
possible.

Thanks!

John

[Mark Goodge]

On Sat, 7 Nov 2009 03:37:56 -0800 (PST), John Nagelson put finger to

Post by John Nagelson
Food ingredients have to be listed on labels in weight order.
But what's the rule with brackets?
E.g. on a jar of Asda's "Exotic Conserve" (barcode 5 050854 597954),
Exotic Fruits (Passion Fruit, Pineapple, Mango, Lemon and Guava)
Sugar
Gelling Agents (Pectin, Carob Bean Gum)
Preservative (Potassium Sorbate)
Does this mean there's more passion fruit than pineapple?

Yes.

Post by John Nagelson
Does it mean there's more pineapple than sugar?

No.

Post by John Nagelson
1) do ingredients INSIDE BRACKETS have to be listed in weight order
too?

Yes, as a general rule. The exception is for cases where the
proportion varies from batch to batch and no single item predominates,
in which case it must have the words "in varying proportions" before
the list of grouped ingredients.

Post by John Nagelson
2) are there any rules about what ingredients can be bracketed
together and what can't?

Yes. Some bracketing is required by law, while others can be at the
discretion of the manufacturer. But they can't just make up groups; if
groups are used the group name has to be meaningful. The phase used in
the relevent legislation is that any ingredient, including a group
name, must be "a name which, if the ingredient in question were itself
being sold as a food, could be used as the name of the food".

The technical term is "compound ingredient". Broadly speaking, there
are three types of compound ingredient:

1. Ingredients which are themselves standalone products in other
situations (eg, mayonnaise, mustard).

2. Ingredients which form a group on which the name or description of
the finished product is based (eg, citrus fruits in a "citrus fruit
squash").

3. Functional ingredients which are grouped together by function (eg,
preservatives, gelling agents, flavourings).

The example you give uses the second and third of these. The "exotic
fruits" are grouped, because it's called an "Exotic Conserve" and
grouping them lets people know, broadly speaking, what proportion of
the product is, in fact, exotic fruits. If they weren't grouped then
it would be harder to do this. And the functional ingredients are
grouped because that also has the benefit of telling people why
they're in the product.

The relevent legislation is The Food Labelling Regulations 1996.

Mark

[Me]

Mark Goodge wrote:

Hmm, Mark Goodge...

Weren't you the votetaker in the corrupt uk.local.yorkshire.moderated
vote?

[Brian Gaff]

Dunno mate all these printed bits are not accessible.

Brian
--
Brian Gaff - ***@blueyonder.co.uk
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!

Post by John Nagelson
Food ingredients have to be listed on labels in weight order.
But what's the rule with brackets?
E.g. on a jar of Asda's "Exotic Conserve" (barcode 5 050854 597954),
Exotic Fruits (Passion Fruit, Pineapple, Mango, Lemon and Guava)
Sugar
Gelling Agents (Pectin, Carob Bean Gum)
Preservative (Potassium Sorbate)
Does this mean there's more passion fruit than pineapple?
Does it mean there's more pineapple than sugar?
1) do ingredients INSIDE BRACKETS have to be listed in weight order
too?
2) are there any rules about what ingredients can be bracketed
together and what can't?
A - 30%
B - 25%
C - 20%
D - 15%
E - 10%
Would they be able to invent a category including A and E but not B,
X (E and A)
B
C
D
And what about inventing a category B, C, D, and E but not A, and
using a label that says
Y (E,D,C and B)
A
?
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who knows the rules in detail
here - including reference to legislation or statutory regulation if
possible.
Thanks!
John