All you need to know about food labeling

Food labeling is essential for food products as they move into the market. Depending on the regulations of each country, there are various requirements for food labeling. This article aims to help businesses better understand food labels and expand their knowledge when applying this type of labeling.

What are food labels?

According to Decree No. 43/2017/ND-CP dated April 14, 2017, issued by the Government on Goods Labeling, a food label or merchandise label is understood as a written, printed, drawn, or photographed form of text, images, or illustrations affixed, printed, cast, embossed, or directly printed onto the product or its commercial packaging.

What are food labels?

What is the purpose of Food Labelling?

Simply put, a food label's purpose is that it's a part of the food and is attached to the food product to provide essential information about the product. This helps in making purchasing decisions and contributes to increasing brand demand. Additionally, food labels play a crucial role in traceability and identifying the product's origin. See the benefit of applying automatic identification technology in seafood processing.

What should included in food labels?

In Vietnam, for the category of goods classified as Food, mandatory information that needs to be displayed on labels varies based on the nature of each type of product, including:

• Quantity/ Weight
• Production date
• Expiry date
• Ingredients or quantitative composition; nutritional components and value (if applicable).

The content, method of displaying nutritional components, nutritional value, and implementation follow the Minister of Health guidelines.

• Warning information
• Instruction for use and storage instructions

In addition, for the imported products, additional labels in the Vietnamese language are mandatory to show product information.

The requirements for food labeling in Vietnam

In Vietnam, there aren't specific regulations regarding the quality and specifications of food labels yet. However, the requirements may differ depending on the type of food, actual usage, and consumer behaviors.

• Sharp images are crucial for conveying information and knowledge to consumers to ensure that small information like allergy or ideographic language is readable. Additionally, consumers are increasingly interested in food origin. Therefore, the widespread adoption of barcodes for traceability through a single barcode is growing. This poses difficulties for traditional printing methods when dealing with changing information.
• Endurance labels and long-term image preservation are also critical requirements to ensure traceability from the farm to the hands of consumers. The labels may slide off the products or be exposed due to harsh conditions like freezing temperatures, boiling, alcohol, water, etc.

  ^{*** Depending on the actual usage conditions within a business's processes, different types of labels have varying required characteristics. Contact Ricoh for detailed consultations tailored to your specific needs.}

• Comply with the safety certifications and regulations for health and the environment: BPA-free, RoHS, REACH, and FSC forest certificates. They also require certifications for indirect/direct contact with food as per different countries' regulations.