Food labelling is extremely important and we will now dive into 6 reasons why it is so important.
Good health
Labels are needed so that you can understand the composition and ingredients of your food. This includes how many calories it contains, fats, protein, minerals vitamins and more. This is essential so that you can consume foods that are good for your health and well being. Thanks to labels, you can easily keep track of your micro-nutrients and prevent deficiencies from occurring, in particular, common deficiencies such as vitamin D, iron etc. Also, with labels, you can easily control your weight since you’ll be able to take note of calories, fats, sugar, salt etc. When you monitor your food intake in this way and consume a healthy and balanced diet, you can not only maintain a healthy weight but also reduce your risk of developing diseases such as heart disease, diabetes etc.
Safety
On a yearly basis, over 600 million people become ill and over 420,000 people actually die from consuming food that contains chemicals, toxins, viruses, bacteria, parasites etc. Labels help by providing warnings and essential information on how to use the product. This includes information on how to store it, cook it and how to keep the food safe for consumption. If you are looking for food labels then see would highly recommend Label Solutions.
Prevents you from purchasing products that are fake or counterfeit: One of the main reasons food labelling exists is to prevent food fraud. If labels were not guaranteed internationally, then food sellers would lie to consumers via false information on the packages. For example, if you want to purchase chocolate, then you want to be sure that you’re buying chocolate and not anything else.
Determine the presence of ingredients that may cause adverse reactions
In developed countries, about 10 to 25% of people have adverse reactions to certain types of food. The most popular foods that many people are allergic to include milk, wheat, fish, eggs, soybeans, tree nuts, peanuts, crustaceans etc. So, if you don’t know all of the ingredients in a particular product, then you could easily eat a food that would give you allergies. Some people have very severe allergic reactions that can even be fatal. So, food labels are very important so that you can know which foods you could eat and which ones you should avoid.
Avoid food wastage
When you take the time to read food labels, they can help prevent you from throwing out food that is still good. Food labels typically include an expiry date which lets you know that you can safely eat the food up until that date. This is important so that you don’t consume expired food and become ill. With that said, there may be “use by” or “best before” dates which can cause more confusion and result in even more food being wasted. Unfortunately, within the EU, about 10% of wasted food is due to this issue. So, it is important that supply chain stakeholders and consumers are properly educated so that this problem can be prevented.
Go local
There are labels that show the origin of the food. Some examples of these include Kona Coffee which shows it is made in the USA, Colombian Coffee which is made in Colombia etc. This type of labelling can be used to attract more attention and create more value for consumers. Lots of consumers associate certain places with certain foods that have particular characteristics. This includes the quality and taste of the food item according to where it was produced. This labelling can actually boost the price of food products by as much as 50% according to the FAO and EBRD.
