ARS 56: Prepackaged foods - Labelling

2012·0.5 MB·English

by  African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO – ORAN)

The African Organisation
for Standardisation
≠ EDICT OF GOVERNMENT ±
In order to promote public education and public safety, equal
justice for all, a better informed citizenry, the rule of law,
world trade and world peace, this legal document is hereby
made available on a noncommercial basis, as it is the right of
all humans to know and speak the laws that govern them.
ARS 56 (2012) (English): Prepackaged
foods - Labelling

AFRICAN CD-ARS
STANDARD 56

Second Edition 2012

Prepackaged foods — Labelling

Reference No. ARS 56:2012(E)
ICS 67.230

© ARSO 2012
CD-ARS 56:2012

Table of contents

Part 1: General requirements .................................................................................................................. 1
1 Scope ............................................................................................................................................. 1
2 Normative references ..................................................................................................................... 1
3 Definitions ....................................................................................................................................... 1
4 General principles ........................................................................................................................... 3
5 Mandatory labeling of prepackaged foods ..................................................................................... 3
5.1 The name of the food ............................................................................................................. 3
5.2 List of ingredients ................................................................................................................... 3
5.3 Net contents and drained weight ........................................................................................... 6
5.4 Name and address ................................................................................................................ 6
5.5 Country of origin .................................................................................................................... 6
5.6 Lot identification ..................................................................................................................... 6
5.7 Date marking and storage instructions .................................................................................. 6
5.8 Instructions for use ................................................................................................................ 7
6 Additional mandatory requirements ................................................................................................ 7
6.1 Quantitative ingredients declaration ...................................................................................... 7
6.2 Irradiated foods ...................................................................................................................... 8
7 Exemptions from mandatory labelling requirements ...................................................................... 8
8 Optional labelling ............................................................................................................................ 8
9 Presentation of mandatory information .......................................................................................... 9
9.1 General .................................................................................................................................. 9
9.2 Language ............................................................................................................................... 9
Part 2: Guidelines for the labelling of non-retail containers of foods .................................................... 10
1 Scope and application .................................................................................................................. 10
1.1 Scope ................................................................................................................................... 10
1.2 Application ........................................................................................................................... 10
2 Principle ........................................................................................................................................ 10
3 Definitions ..................................................................................................................................... 10
4 General principles ......................................................................................................................... 10
4.1 Deceptive labelling ............................................................................................................... 11
4.2 Misleading labelling ............................................................................................................. 11
4.3 Labelling of non-retail containers ......................................................................................... 11
4.4 Presentation of information .................................................................................................. 12
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 13

ii © ARSO 2012 — All rights reserved
CD-ARS 56:2012

Foreword

The African Organization for Standardization (ARS) is an African intergovernmental organization
made up of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Organization of
African Unity (AU). One of the fundamental mandates of ARSO is to develop and harmonize African
Standards (ARS) for the purpose of enhancing Africa’s internal trading capacity, increase Africa’s
product and service competitiveness globally and uplift the welfare of African communities. The work
of preparing African Standards is normally carried out through ARSO technical committees. Each
Member State interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the
right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, regional economic
communities (RECs), governmental and non-governmental organizations, in liaison with ARSO, also
take part in the work.

ARSO Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

The main task of technical committees is to prepare ARSO Standards. Draft ARSO Standards
adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an
ARSO Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ARSO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

© African Organisation for Standardisation 2012 — All rights reserved*

ARSO Central Secretariat
International House 3rd Floor
P. O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square
NAIROBI, KENYA

Tel. [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.arso-oran.org

*
 2012 ARSO — All rights of exploitation reserved worldwide for African Member States’ NSBs.

© ARSO 2012 — All rights reserved iii
CD-ARS 56:2012

Copyright notice

This ARSO document is copyright-protected by ARSO. While the reproduction of this document
by participants in the ARSO standards development process is permitted without prior
permission from ARSO, neither this document nor any extract from it may be reproduced, stored
or transmitted in any form for any other purpose without prior written permission from ARSO.

Requests for permission to reproduce this document for the purpose of selling it should be
addressed as shown below or to ARSO’s member body in the country of the requester:

© African Organisation for Standardisation 2012 — All rights reserved

ARSO Central Secretariat
International House 3rd Floor
P.O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square
NAIROBI, KENYA

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.arso-oran.org

Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.
Violators may be persecuted.

iv © ARSO 2012 — All rights reserved
CD-ARS 56:2012

Introduction

The food label is one of the most important and direct means of communicating product information
between buyers and sellers. It is one of the primary means by which consumers differentiate between
individual foods and brands to make informed purchasing choices.

A label serves three primary functions.

(i) It provides basic product information (including common name, list of ingredients, net quantity,
durable life date, grade/quality, country of origin and name and address of manufacturer, dealer
or importer).

(ii) It provides health, safety, and nutrition information. This includes instructions for safe storage
and handling, nutrition information such as the quantity of fats, proteins, carbohydrates,
vitamins and minerals present per serving of stated size of the food (in the Nutrition Facts
table), and specific information on products for special dietary use.

(iii) It acts as a vehicle for food marketing, promotion and advertising (via label vignettes,
promotional information and label claims such as "low fat", "cholesterol-free", "high source of
fibre", "product of … (country name)", "natural", "organic", "no preservatives added", and so
on).

This African Standard is a technical revision of the earlier ARS 56:1986, Prepackaged foods —
Labelling which is hereby superseded and cancelled.

© ARSO 2012 — All rights reserved v

AFRICAN STANDARD CD-ARS 56:2012(E)

Prepackaged foods — Labelling

Part 1: General requirements

1 Scope

This standard applies to the labelling of all prepackaged foods to be offered as such to the consumer
or for catering purposes and to certain aspects relating to the presentation thereof.

2 Normative references

The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.

CAC/GL 1, General guidelines on claims

CAC/GL 2, Guidelines on nutrition labelling

CAC/GL 9, General principles for the addition of essential nutrients to foods

CAC/GL 10, Advisory list of mineral salts and vitamin compounds for use in foods for infants and
children

CAC/RCP 19, Code of practice for radiation processing of food

CAC/GL 21, Principles for the establishment and application of microbiological criteria for foods

CAC/GL 23, Guidelines for use of nutrition and health claims

CODEX Stan 192, General standard for food additives

3 Definitions

For the purpose of this standard the following definitions apply.

3.1
claim
any representation which states, suggests or implies that a food has particular qualities relating to its
origin, nutritional properties, nature, processing, composition or any other quality

3.2
consumer
persons and families purchasing and receiving food in order to meet their personal needs

3.3
container
any packaging of food for delivery as a single item, whether by completely or partially enclosing the
food and includes wrappers. A container may enclose several units or types of packages when such
is offered to the consumer.

3.4
date of manufacture
the date on which the food becomes the product as described

© ARSO 2012 — All rights reserved 1
3.5
date of packaging
the date on which the food is placed in the immediate container in which it will be ultimately sold

3.6
sell-by-date
the last date of offer for sale to the consumer after which there remains a reasonable storage period
in the home

3.7
date of minimum durability (best before)
the date which signifies the end of the period under any stated storage conditions during which the
product will remain fully marketable and will retain any specific qualities for which tacit or express
claims have been made. However, beyond the date the food may still be perfectly satisfactory.

3.8
use-by date (recommended last consumption date, expiration date)
the date which signifies the end of the estimated period under any stated storage conditions, after
which the product probably will not have the quality attributes normally expected by the consumers.
After this date, the food should not be regarded as marketable.

3.9
food
any substance, whether processed, semi-processed or raw, which is intended for human
consumption, and includes drinks, chewing gum and any substance which has been used in the
manufacture, preparation or treatment of “food” but does not include cosmetics or tobacco or
substances used only as drugs

3.10
food additive
any substance not normally consumed as a food by itself and not normally used as a typical
ingredient of the food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for
a technological (including organoleptic) purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation,
treatment, packing, packaging, transport or holding of such food results, or may be reasonably
expected to result, (directly or indirectly) in it or its by-products becoming a component of or otherwise
affecting the characteristics of such foods. The term does not include “contaminants” or substances
added to food for maintaining or improving nutritional qualities.

3.11
ingredient
any substance, including a food additive, used in the manufacture or preparation of a food and
present in the final product although possibly in a modified form

3.12
label
any tag, brand, mark, pictorial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stencilled, marked,
embossed or impressed on, or attached to, a container of food

3.13
labelling
any written, printed or graphic matter that is present on the label, accompanies the food, or is
displayed near the food, including that for the purpose of promoting its sale or disposal

3.14
lot
a definitive quantity of a commodity produced essentially under the same conditions

3.15
prepackaged food product
food product that is packaged in a container in such a manner that it is ordinarily sold to or used or
purchased by a consumer without being re-packaged

2 © ARSO 2012 — All rights reserved