SmartLabel Program Steers Clear Of Promoting Through Labeling

GMA says more than 30 firms marketing food and other consumer packaged goods, including personal care product giants Colgate and Procter & Gamble and dietary supplement firm Pharmavite, are participating and will distribute SmartLabel-bearing products starting later in December.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association might avoid pushing FDA’s food labeling buttons with its SmartLabel program to label products with a link to access additional ingredient and other information online.

The trade group on Dec. 2 announced that more than 30 firms marketing food and other consumer packaged goods, including personal care product giants Colgate-Palmolive Co. and Procter & Gamble Co., which also markets consumer health care products, and dietary supplement firm [Pharmavite LLC], are participating and will distribute SmartLabel-bearing products starting later in December.

GMA said it expects nearly 30,000 products to use SmartLabel by the end of 2017 and that within five years more than 80% of food, beverage, pet care, personal care and household products available in the US will use the label.

SmartLabel-bearing products have separate landing pages, organized in a similar format, on the program’s website containing information from manufacturers on ingredients and other attributes such as nutrition, allergens, third-party certifications, social compliance programs, usage instructions, advisories and safe handling instructions and company/brand information.

Consumers can access the information by scanning a quick response code on a package, using a web search or through a participating firm’s website. GMA also plans an app.

The group adds that some retailers say consumers without smartphones can access SmartLabel information in stores at customer service desks, and online and conventional retailers’ stores are considering posting the SmartLabel link on their websites.

SmartLabel launches with information on more than 350 product attributes, each classified as “required” under FDA or Department of Agriculture regulations, or “voluntary” but adhering to “industry-recognized standard” definitions, according to GMA.

“All information on a SmartLabel landing page is bound by the same accuracy requirements as if it were printed on a label. The USDA and FDA misbranding authority apply to all information contained within SmartLabel,” according to a background paper the trade group made available.

FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition also noted that information accessed through a SmartLabel QR code on a package or at a point of purchase is considered labeling. CFSAN was not notified or consulted about the SmartLabel program.

“Certain information is required to be on the food label itself and would still need to be on the label even if QR codes are used,” the center said in a statement.

Familiar Territory

GMA’s unequivocal statement not only assures SmartLabel’s regulatory compliance, but also is a nod to the trade group’s experience with FDA concerning using front-of-package labeling to promote the nutritional value of food products. FDA did not comment Dec. 2 on questions about SmartLabel.

While GMA since 2011 has sponsored a program to place calorie, saturated fat, sodium and sugar content information on package fronts – launched as “Nutrition Keys” and later changed to “Facts Up Front” – the industry previously pulled a front-of-package labeling program following FDA objections (Also see "In Brief" - Pink Sheet, 31 Jan, 2011.).

FDA in 2009 began work on an FOP labeling regulation after members of Congress and consumer advocates complained about industry-sponsored programs that allowed dubious nutrition claims for some products (Also see "DeLauro Urges FDA To Probe Whether Smart Choices Really Are" - Pink Sheet, 28 Sep, 2009.).

In a rare occasion of an FDA commissioner speaking about food labeling, former Commissioner Margaret Hamburg in October 2009 said the agency would examine FOP and shelf labels for foods to ensure they are not false or misleading.

FDA in 2010 opened a docket – FDA-2010-N-0210 – for information comparing the efficacy of possible FOP nutrition labeling and how the labeling affects consumers' choices; for marketing and advertising data to help develop better point-of-purchase nutrition information; and comments on how this information may affect firms' decisions to reformulate food products (Also see "Talking about front-of-package labeling" - Pink Sheet, 3 May, 2010.).

FDA published a proposed rule on nutrition label changes in March 2014; its most recent semi-annual regulatory agenda listed March 2016 as the target for publishing a final rule (Also see "Pediatric OTC Cough/Cold Rulemaking Absent From FDA Regulatory Agenda" - Pink Sheet, 1 Jun, 2015.).