Packaging Industry Beware

No need to ‘Beware of the small print’! – There won’t be any. Demands by the EU to fit nutritional information on to food packaging will not work because the labels are too big, food companies have complained. Some of the world’s biggest brands, including Nestle and Coca-Cola, claim the information panels are so large they will swamp packs, bottles and tins, and obscure logos and brands.

The problem stems from the fact that Brussels says nutrition information should be printed in large clear font at least 3mm tall so shoppers can see clearly the amount of calories, salt, saturated fat and sugar in what they are buying.

But food and drink manufacturers are concerned that smaller portions – which do the most to combat obesity – will be covered in huge labels and so become unrecognisable to consumers.

So for packaging businesses out there, you are not going to get it right are you? If you increase the size of your containers to accommodate the labels, you will be criticized for unnecessary packaging at the expense of wasting our planet's resources. Alternatively, Europe would have us so hung up on analyzing the food we eat, not only will we not want to buy the consumables, packaging will be rendered obsolete anyway.

Can’t win, can you!