Surveillance of Nutrition Information on Food Label - Assignment Example

Topic: Surveillance of Nutrition information on Food Label Name Institution: Course: Admission Number: Tutor: Date of Submission: 1. Brief Introduction of the assignment The purpose of this paper is to show the procedures for assessing the information relating to manufactured products such as the amount of energy and food components that have been used. It tries to explain the implementation o policies of assessing the validity of information contained in manufactured products to determine if consumers have been tricked into buying the products or the company has complied with its promise to produce products according to the right standards. This paper also shows how policy requirements should be followed during the process of fortification and an understanding the validity of nutritional profile indicated in the labels of food products. The main food products that will be used in this study will be food grains of various types and brand names. 2. Description of food label data collected The main data that have been entered into the spreadsheet refers to the data that will be useful in understanding compliance of the food manufacturer with the requirements regarding manufacture of its products. The data include number labels that are categorized into subcategories, and the claims that have been displayed about them. The spreadsheet contains information such as food category. The main food category that has been studied by this research is the grains food types. These foods have been subdivided into noodles, and pasta. Under the brand category, the brand corresponding to each food type has been indicated. The name of the products has also been indicated in the spreadsheet to distinguish it from other products in the same category. The spreadsheet also contains the name of store and suburb from which the products have been cited. Unit price of each product has also been indicated in dollars while the weight has also been recorded. In addition, those products that have promotion prices have also been identified and their corresponding types of promotion and the values of prices indicated. In the nutritional panel, the main information that has been collected relating to the products includes the certification whether the product has been fortified or not. The amount of energy that the product can give the user when used has also been explained. The panel also contains the serving size of the product and various nutritional contents of the product. The nutritional contents that have been investigated include the amounts of fats, carbohydrates, and sodium and fortification additives. Fortification additives that are investigated include calcium, iron, diet fiber, gluten and potassium. The spreadsheet also contains a section for any claims that have been made about products that have been studied. The claims are mainly relating to nutrition, health and related effects on the user. The section tries to determine whether there are any nutritional claims that have been made, any general health level claims and high level claims and related claims. It also has a section for additional information that relates to health and related standards. Claims made relating to products have also been classified into sections such as health claims and overall health level claims or high health claims and related claims. This section also contains additional information that can be used to understand nutrition, health a d recommended standards for the study. For instance in the case of Cu Noodles Chicken Flavor, a claim has been made that the product has wheat gluten, milk and soya beans. This is a claim relating the product to fortification with milk and proteins in addition to its carbohydrates content provided by wheat. 3. Description of compliance of label with the code By studying the chart carefully, it is observed that there are many cases of non-compliance with the code despite compliance in certain instances. There was no non compliance with brand name because all the brand names corresponding to various products were provided. There was no non compliance with product name because all the products were provided with names that distinguished them from other products. There is compliance in price per unit in certain products such as Shin Ramyon Nooodle that have unit prices in dollars. However, there is no compliance to price per unit for Bowl Instant Noodle with artificial Spicy Beef. Price per 100g/ml was complied with for most of the products except Bowl Instant Noodle with Shrimp that did not have the values for carbohydrates and fats. Also, Sea Food Noodle did not have the value for carbohydrates and fats. Non compliance in the ingredients list was observed in the case of Inspirations Hokkien Shelf fresh Noodles that did not have proteins and fats despite the claim that they had been included. Non compliance was also observed in the case of Noodle Gravy Beef Flavor that did not have fats and carbohydrates. Non compliance with the 7 elements required was observed in the case of Funsian Singapore Noodle that did not have carbohydrates despite having all other elements. There was no non-compliance issues with the fortification practice because all he foods that were fortified were specified in terms of the elements that were used to achieve the fortification process. For instance, the amount of calcium that was used to fortify Easy Mac Cup chicken has been specified with its corresponding percentage and weight. 4. Discussion of food Fortification within this sub-category One of the foods that were fortified was Noodle Laksa 2 that was fortified with 1.5g of iron. The other type of food that was fortified is Tai-Style Rice Noodles that was fortified with 1.7g of iron and was considered 99% fat free. The other food type that was fortified was Rice Noodles Vermicelli that was fortified with 1.4g of iron and was considered 99% free from gluten and fats. Fortification was also done in the cases of Asian Supermar Ket where 2g of fortification was done by use of iodine. Pasta shapes were fortified using 3g of iron, Farfalle n. 65 were fortified using 3 g of iron, while Lasagne all’Uovo Bolognesi was fortified using 3.6g of iron. In the case of Fettuccine Egg Pasta, the amount of fortification was 3.1g of iron while in the case of Organic Penne, the amount of fortification was 1.2g of iron. The reason for fortification of the food types with iron is that it is an important component during formation of hemoglobin which assists in increasing the capacity of the blood to transport oxygen throughout the body and prevent anemic situation (Wayne, Koutras, Alexander, 1964). The use of iron also ensures enzymatic reactions are speeded up. However, there are certain food types that were not fortified. This resulted into their low value and lack of demand. They included foods from Korean origin such as Super Hot Beef Flavor, Instant Noodle, Instant Noodle with Soup, Emperor Spicy Pock and Chicken and Corn Flavored Noodles. The reason for this negative finding may be because they do not need to contain fortification to serve their purposes. In Australia, the government proposed that Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) should ensure a mandatory folic acid fortification for the purpose of helping a reduction in cases of neutral tube defects (NTDs) a defect experienced during birth (Zoumbaris and Sharon, 2012). The government also proposed mandatory iodine intake for the purpose of reducing re-emergence of iodine deficiency in the population. Consequently, FSANZ came up with two mandatory standards that were implemented in December 2009 that required addition of iodine and folic acid to bread-baking floor in the country. The implementation of these policies was followed by monitoring to establish their effectiveness in protecting the people against health complications. 5. Relationship between price and fortification and the claims Generally it has been observed that fortified foods are more expensive than non fortified foods . In addition, fortified foods have high demands and are usually purchased in stores more frequently than unfortified foods. This is because consumers know w they have the capacity to benefit from the purchase when they buy fortified foods in comparison with unfortified foods. Fortification is usually done by the government but in certain cases, it is possible for the manufacture of fortified foes or not (Narasinga, Kathok and Apte, 1978). In addition, the use of fortified foods has also been enhanced by the need to eat certain types of fruits in without actually eating them but focusing on nutritional gains that will be obtained from the products such as fortified products. Minerals found in fortified foods can also be found in other food products but the typical diet usually has a lower content of these minerals in whole products. When people eat plenty of unfortified foods that can suffer from certain deficiency diseases. However, since the introduction of fortified food stuffs, there has been a reduction in the number of complications relating to pallagra and other daily diseases. References Institute of Medicine (U.S.), and Ellen Wartella. 2012. Front-of-package nutrition rating systems and symbols: promoting healthier choices. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. Lawrence. 2013. Food Fortification: The Evidence, Ethics, and Politics of Adding Nutrients to food, Oxford University Press. Narasinga Rao BS, Kathok S. Apte SV.1978. Monoferrous acid citrate (FeC6O7H2), an iron fortificant. Br J Nutr 1978 ;39:663-65. Narasinga Rao BS, Prasad S. Apte SV.1972. Iron absorption in Indians studied by whole body counting: a comparison of iron compounds used in salt fortification. Br J Haematol 1972;22:281-86. Narasinga Rao BS, Vijayasarathi C. 1975. Fortification of common salt with iron: effect of chemical additives on stability and bioavailability. Am J Clin Nutr 1975; 28: 1495-1501. Sood SK, Deo MG, Karmarkar MG, Kochupillai N. Ramachandran K, Ramalingaswami V. .1973. Prevention of endemic goitre with iodised salt. Bull WHO 1973; 49:307-12. Watson, Ronald R., and Victor R. Preedy. 2010. Bioactive foods in promoting health fruits and vegetables. Amsterdam: Academic. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=631838. Wayne EJ, Koutras DA, Alexander WD. 1964. Clinical aspects of iodine metabolism. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1964:3-37, 73-82. Zoumbaris, Sharon K. 2012. Encyclopedia of wellness: from acai berry to yo-yo dieting. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood. Read More