A Survey For Nutritional Labeling In Prepackaged Foods And Preliminary Accuracy Research On The Nutritional Label In Shanghai

Food nutrition label is a description intended to inform the consumersof nutritional properties of a food, thus facilitating the selection of ahealthy diet as well as the global trade. Therefore, the legislation, over thepast decades, had universally received increasing attention. Thepublication and implementation of Chinese Food Nutrition LabelingRegulation (CFNLR） and General Principles for Nutrition label ofPrepackaged Foods (GB28050-2011) are of great significance for Chineseadministration of nutrition labelling.Using the method of FLAPS by taking photographs，transcribing andpurchasing the foods to record nutrition labelling information in4supermarkets in Shanghai. The data were analyzed by SPSS20.0. Webased our analysis on a random sample of125foods: part of the contents of protein and fat were detected based on national standard GB/T5009.5-2010and GB/T5009.6-2003. The difference of standardpercentage between international food brands and domestic food brandswas analyzed by chi-square test. The special indicators such as trans fatand cholesterol are tested by Food quality supervision and testing center ofMinistry of Agriculture.Results show that a total of1995prepackaged beverages in7categories were investigated. The overall labelling rate was54.8%,presenting a great improvement comparing that in2008Shanghai survey(35.4%). The percentages of food items labelled with energy and4corenutrients including protein, fat, carbohydrate and sodium was all above98%, while there is a low rate in SFA (11.5%), TFA (11.0%) and iron(10.7%). Food products manufactured by domestic companies had a lowerlabeling rate (45.8%) than those manufactured by Taiwan and Hong Kong(67.0%) or international manufactures (65.7%). The standard percentageof protein, fat and carbohydrates is94.4%,96.0%and100%respectively.The standard percentage of TFA is100%. The standard protein percentageof Hong Kong and Taiwan, abroad brands and the mainland ofpre-packaged food is95.0%,94.6%and94.1%respectively. The standardfat percentage of Hong Kong and Taiwan, abroad brands and the mainland of pre-packaged food is95.0%,97.3%and95.6%respectively. Thedifference between international food brands and domestic food brands isnot significant.After the implementation of CFNLR, the prevalence of nutritionlabelling on prepackaged beverages in Shanghai has increased to a certainextent, the accuracy of the nutrition values in nutrition labels onprepackaged foods in Shanghai is very high and relatively reliability.However there are still many problems. To perfect the administration ofnutrition labelling and benefit the public healthy, more joint efforts frommanufacturers, consumers and government are in demand.