Are you a health-conscious citizen who checks the nutritional information on food products diligently whenever on a shopping spree? Well, nowadays most of us are very careful about what we put in our body.

Hence there’s a massive push towards being extremely transparent about ingredients and nutritional value whenever it comes to food.

To make it convenient to make healthier choices when it comes to food, the concept of nutrition labeling testing emerged and the policy of displaying nutrition information on the food items became mandatory in India.

Other than FSSAI, there are multiple local nutritional testing labs/services PAN India that analyze different food items and check whether they adhere to the FSSAI guidelines or not.

If you’re in the Food business or thinking of starting one, our nutrition analysis lab can help you meet state and national regulatory requirements with comprehensive nutrition labeling testing.

Benefits of Nutritional Labeling

If you’re a business owner dealing in the foods and beverages industry, you understand the importance of food labeling. However, for someone who never stepped into the foods and beverages industry, getting started can be mind-boggling.

So, in this segment, we discuss two major benefits of nutritional labeling like:

• It can benefit different food businesses as right nutrition label testing can accurately determine the nutrients information within the product adding value to it and creating awareness in the minds of consumers.
• The results obtained from the nutritional analysis labs/laboratories allows consumers to compare different brands and make healthier food choices.

Nutritional labeling is also important for the government to approve the product for sale on the market. If proper nutritional analysis testing isn’t done by the manufacturer, it can create legal issues for the organization in case of a mishap.

Hence, nutrition test labs must check all food items carefully to ensure they are free of contaminants and include healthy nutrients as prescribed by the governing bodies.

All laboratory conducts food testing for all nutritional parameters and is accredited and authorized by your Organisation for the testing of food samples. All lab are experienced in nutritional labeling for hotel and restaurant menus and also provide nutritional analysis of packaged food products like –
• Dietary supplements
• Protein powders
• Health drinks
• Infant formula
• Biscuits and cookies
• Cakes
• Namkeen
• Chips
• Ready to eat foods
• Cooked foods
• Bakery products
• Dairy products
• Meat and meat products
• Candies and sweets
• Pickles, purées and pastes
• Sauces
• Menu Labeling.. etc.

All Lab provide consultation on the labeling requirements to help you ascertain the tests that need to be conducted and nutritional food testing services like –
• Energy
• Protein
• Carbohydrate
• Calorific Value
• Sugar
• Fibre
• Dietary fibre
• Fats
• Saturated Fatty Acids
• Monounsaturated Fatty Acid
• Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
• Trans fats
• Cholesterol
• Vitamins – A,E,D,K,B,C
• Minerals – Ca, Fe, Na, K, Zn, Mg, Mn, I, P, Se and many more
• Amino acids
• Nucleotides

In India As per the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labeling) Regulations, 2011, notified by the FSSAI, the nutritional information is required to be mentioned on the label.

If the limits do not match with what has been specified on the label or not falling in line with the regulatory guidelines then the product will be considered as a misbranded/substandard product and the food business operator is liable to be punished. The act also requires periodic food testing be carried out on the ingredients and products.

The information about the nutritional constituents like Vitamins, Minerals, protein along with their values in the food products & health supplements should be declared on the labels.

A constant check through regular food testing needs to be done on the nutritional ingredients in reference to the recommended values which are safe for human consumption.

The values for nutritional elements like, Vitamins, Minerals, Energy, Protein, Sugar, Fat should be under the prescribed dietary limits in the food items and this shall be printed on the labels based on results of food testing. If present in excess nutritional contents can cause nausea, diarrhea, and stomach cramps and other side effects.

The food business operator has to mention the exact values of nutritional elements on the labels. The consumers have to be informed about the complete information on the labels so that they can make their choice while buying a food product.

A food label with facts on nutritional value serves as an important source of information to the consumers especially in case of children or people seeking a food product to fulfill their specific needs.

The nutritional information on the label also serves as a competitive edge as the consumer can compare the nutritional constituents between different brands while they make choice for the healthy food.

We have an experienced team equipped with the latest instruments for food testing for nutritional labeling compliance. The parameters depending upon the nature of samples and purpose of analysis that may be referred through below table. We require at least 200 grams of the sample to successfully conduct the testing ( sample quantity depending upon the parameters ).

If you’re trying to understand what the net food nutrition testing cost in market? then check out the following tables to get an approximate idea of nutritional labeling cost based on the kind of testing to be done.

Please find the below given table with Protein for parameters, quantity and prices :

Products	Parameters	QTY	Price
Protein	Percentage of Protein	1	₹ 1,500
Total Amount			₹ 1,500
GST@18%			₹ 270
Grand Total			₹ 1770

Please find the below given table with essential information for parameters, quantity and prices :

Parameters	QTY	Price
Carbohydrates	1	₹500
Sugar	1	₹500
Total Fat	1	₹500
Protein	1	₹ 500
Energy	1	₹500
Calcium	1	₹500
Calorific Value	1	₹2500
Fatty Acid Profile(by GC)	1	₹3000
Mono unsaturated fatty acid , Poly unsaturated fatty acid, Saturated Fatty Acid, Trans Fat
Package Amount		₹5000
GST@18%		₹900
Grand Total		₹5900

Please find the below given table with complete information for parameters, quantity and prices :

Parameters	QTY	Price
Carbohydrates	1	₹500
Sugar	1	₹500
Protein	1	₹500
Total Fat	1	₹500
Sodium	1	₹500
Energy	1	₹500
Calcium	1	₹500
Cholesterol(by GC)	1	₹1500
Dietary Fibre	1	₹2500
Vitamin A Palmitate (by HPLC)	1	₹750
Vitamin C (by HPLC)	1	₹750
Fatty acid profile (by GC):	1	₹3000
Mono unsaturated fatty acid , Poly unsaturated fatty acid, Saturated Fatty Acid, Trans Fat
Iron	1	₹400
Vitamin B1 (by HPLC)	1	₹1500
Vitamin B2 (by HPLC)
Vitamin B3 (by HPLC)
Vitamin B6 (by HPLC)	1	₹1000
Vitamin E (by HPLC)	1	₹1000
Vitamin D (by HPLC)	1	₹1000
Biotin	1	₹1500
Package Cost		₹17850
GST@18%		₹3213
Grand Total		₹21063

What nutrients are required to be listed on the food label?

As per Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labeling) Regulations 2011, the information about nutrients like vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, sugar, proteins, and fats along with their values should be listed on the food label. Based on the results of food testing, nutritional facts along with the prescribed dietary limits of the food items shall be printed on the food labels

How do you evaluate a food label?

Evaluating food labels will help you find nutritional components and make it easier for you to compare food products. All lab team of experts conduct through labels reviews to ensure compliance to the current regulatory requirements.

Why is nutritional analysis important?

Nutritional analysis of foods allows us to determine and measure its nutritional composition which is significant to consumers, food producers, and authorities. Food label with nutritional values is an important source of information for consumers like children, women, athletes, and people seeking a product to fulfill their specific needs.

The nutritional information on the label allows consumers to compare the nutritional constituents of different brands and make a healthy food choice. It also provides a competitive edge to food manufacturers over their competitors.