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Your label must have visual appeal to make your product stand out in the supermarket shelves. It should be your silent salesman.

"When you make a design or label, you have to think in terms of 'Where will I display it?'" says Divina Sonido, vice president for external affairs of the Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization. "You have to visit the supermarket and see how it fares with the neighbors. Makikita ba sya o malulunod ba siya? (Will it be seen or will it get drowned amidst other products?)?

That said, Sonido, whose company, Food Development and Training System, offers label and packaging consultancy services, adds that your label must also contain accurate information to avoid misleading the buyer or giving false impressions of your product and its contents.

Your label's principal display panel is that portion shown in groceries and stores; its information panel is that part immediately to the right of your display panel.

• Your display panel must contain your registered brand name and the contents and weight of your product, says Sonido.
• Your information panel must include the complete list of your product's ingredients and things like the product's date of manufacture and expiration date, its bar code, and the manufacturer's name and address.

As well, there are extra labeling requirements for:

1. Alcoholic beverages (alcohol content in percentages or proof units)
2. Food supplements (statement declaring "No Approved Therapeutic Claim" unless otherwise proven)
3. Fortified processed foods (nutrients added)
4. Bottled drinking water (whether spring, mineral or purified).

Sonido also warns of prohibitions, such as one stopping you from using the picture of a mango if your product only contains mango flavor, or using a picture of a dish or food preparation in your sauce mix without a qualifying statement (such as "serving suggestion").

And if you plan to export your product, the more you need to stay in the loop. "If you export to Canada, dapat may (there has to be) French translation. If you export to the Middle East, dapat may (there has to be) Middle Eastern translation," says Sonido.

The United States is even stricter. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was said to have detained some 580 processed food products shipped by 290 Philippine exporters when it imposed stricter requirements under its Bioterrorism Act of 2002, which requires foreign food and beverage firms to register with it if they manufacture, process, pack or hold food for consumption in the United States, and to follow its labeling and packaging standards. In other words, your food and food label must be up to scratch whether you're producing for local market or exporting.

 

Calculate It
Here's how to calculate your label's area, according to label and packaging consultant Divina G. Sonido:

• For a rectangular package, it's height times width.
• For a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical container, it's 40 percent of the value of the height of the container times the circumference.
• For other container types, it's 40 percent of the total surface.
• If the container has an obvious principal display panel, exclude the tops, bottoms and flanges of cans, and the shoulders and necks of bottles and jars.