Listing Ingredients

[steffamarie]

Bought a cookie with my lunch today at work. Found this very thorough ingredients list...can you imagine a soap label filled out the same way?? [emoji23]

 

[Lin19687]

While you are asking.... Anyone here sell home made food?

Don't you have to list ALL ingredients and weight on Each package ? Not just have a list at your booth and everything just in plastic ?

Asking because this is what I have seen

 

[steffamarie]

Clearly my hospital isn't up on the rules and regs XD

 

[I_like_melts]

Bought a cookie with my lunch today at work. Found this very thorough ingredients list...can you imagine a soap label filled out the same way?? [emoji23]View attachment 32460

I dont sell food but....

You don't have to label a bar of soap unless it falls in the cosmetic or drug category (where it would fall under FDA guidelines) This is super easy to do though. Any claim that your soap does ANYTHING other than clean can cause it to fall into that category. Detergents of any kind bump it into this category too.

And like food, its an all or nothing thing. If you leave off an ingredient, it is misleading. There are several components of a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. If it were, say an apple, which has no additives and is a base component, you could just write apple

 

[dndlyon]

Wow! I think someone messed up the label copy...this made me LOL a bit

You actually can leave ingredients off of the food label if they serve certain purposes (processing aids, some flavor modifiers, etc.). Labeling rules for food are super complicated. There are rules for pictures on front and back of pack, ingredient statments, what type of claims you can make on the package, even font size - just like cosmetic labeling. Most big companies have people on staff with the primary job of reviewing recipes and labels to make sure they meet regulatory compliance. I did it for a year and a half and then went back to supporting food safety and quality - regulatory is tough!

I think it's fair to say that this label probably isn't compliant but I hope the cookie was delicious

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

Ingredients: mica, perfume, soap.

 

[I_like_melts]

Ingredients: mica, perfume, soap.

I hope all that wasn't in the cookie lol

 

[soapmaker]

Just recently I also bought a cookie from the health food store I take soap to. It was a spelt oatmeal raisin cookie. The label said "Spelt Oat Raisin." Period. It had the name of the business and a BB date. Why with something you ingest there is no ingredient list but with a wash off product there is supposed to be a complete list and in a couple languages! In Canada soap is considered a cosmetic. But I'm sure many are not in compliance in the food industry just the same as in soap.

 

[dndlyon]

It had the name of the business and a BB date. Why with something you ingest there is no ingredient list but with a wash off product there is supposed to be a complete list and in a couple languages!

Food is supposed to carry an ingredient statement in almost all countries. Even the cottage food industry (home baked goods sold for retail purchase) require a list of ingredients in the US (not sure how Canada regulates the cottage food industry.

The good news for the food people who don't label correctly - most governments don't have enough inspectors to catch all the issues and don't have the resources to follow up with labels that aren't compliant. As a result, they often sample the Big Businesses and ignore the small businesses (Big Businesses affect more people, so the risk is greater).

Just like in the hand crafted cosmetic business, not everyone is always compliant. Just look at the label claims you see out there on some products. The claim might be scientifically accurate, but still not compliant to local and/or federal regulations.

 

[earlene]

I had not looked into it, but I have wondered about labeling requirements for homemade foods sold at Farmer's Markets. I buy bread from a couple of different sellers at our Farmer's Market and neither really puts much on their labels. So just now I did look it up and found a few links that even include an 'FDA compliant' label making site for Farmers Markets foodstuffs. And a site listing 'Illinois Food Safety for Farmer's Markets'. So the regulations and guidelines are in place. I found another one for the state of Indiana as well, so it seems food safety and labeling of foods sold at Farmers Markets are monitored by each individual state's Health Departments in the US. At least that is my current assumption, having not read all the regulations as yet. Well, when we ran a restaurant, it was the State Health Department who monitored restaurants as well, so I suspect my assumption is well based.

 

[Lin19687]

Here also.
In MA you need to label everything not only ingredients but weight and sother stuff.

If not sure, call the board of health for the town that you are seeing this in. They will tell you what the rules are.
I actually emailed, anonymously, to the FM I do and they will be coming to the FM when it opens in the Summer and Miss Snotty Pants with all her "I know it all and you all suck" attitude will change when they tell her that she needs to label. I hope she decides to not do it anymore.... the food is not good anyway

 

[Misschief]

At the market I'm in, each vendor who sells food must have their ingredients listed (or displayed if they're selling for immediate consumption) and must also have their FoodSafe certificate displayed (as regulated by our local Health Authority).