Food labelling is a crucial part of product development. Food products may be nutritious, delicious, and attractively packaged, but unless their labels conform to Canadian regulations, they may not be sold in Canada.

ACC Label is a team of nutritionists, food scientists and translators offering labelling expertise to companies interested in marketing food products in Canada.

They provide database and laboratory nutritional analysis to determine the nutritional composition [protein, fat, carbohydrate, etc.] of food products.

Database analysis consists of determining a product’s nutritional content on the basis of the nutritional values of its ingredients. Good database analysis, however, is not just a matter of entering data into nutritional analysis software and letting the computer do the rest. Extensive food science and nutrition knowledge are necessary to ensure reliable data. ACC Label's nutritionists have perfected the database analysis methodology to provide accurate results.

Laboratory analyses consist of chemical breakdown of the actual products. ACC Label contracts with laboratories fully accredited by the Standards Council of Canada for such analyses.

Once the nutritional composition of the food product is known, ACC Label produces compliant, print-ready Nutrition Facts tables.

In addition to nutritional labelling, ACC Label provides food label regulatory analysis services. They scrutinize the labels to:

1. determine whether all the mandatory labelling elements are displayed as required by regulations;

2. ensure no label elements are misleading and illegal;

3. recommend appropriate value-added claims [e.g. "Organic", "Source of …", etc.];

4. etc.

The importance of the legal compliance of food labels cannot be overemphasized, as the consequences of inadequate labelling can be very costly in fines, seizures, label reprints, etc.

Equally important is the linguistic quality of texts. Just as poor graphic design or low quality packaging, poorly written texts convey carelessness and give the impression that the product is of inferior quality.

For outstanding linguistic quality on food labels, you want to rely on people passionate about words who can convey messages with style. Also, you want people with a good knowledge of Canadian labelling requirements who will not alter the legal compliance of your labels. Finally, you want someone familiar with the particularities of the two Canadian official languages, as Canadian French and Canadian English differ from Parisian French and US English.

To complement their nutritional and label regulatory analysis services, ACC Label’s offers the linguistic services you need, whether you speak English, French, Italian or Chinese.

The production and sale of quality food products is a challenge in itself. Dealing with food labelling regulations, nutritional analysis and linguistics is a totally different matter. To food manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers who wish to focus on what they do the best, ACC Label offers peace of mind with respect to their food labelling needs.

Visit ACC Label for more information.