Issue with Allergens and Nutrition

[nancyVigo]

Good morning!

I attended a Foodservice webinar a few months ago and was told that, as long as I specified the agency (FDA), picked "True" for the Allergen Declarations Indicator and "True" for the Nutrient Declarations Indicator, this would be enough without listing the actual allergens.

However, as you can see in the attachment, I continue to get error messages from a few customers.

Your help in clarifying this issue is greatly appreciated.

[CommunityJedi22]

Hello @nancyVigo I am looking into this for you...

[nancyVigo]

@CommunityJedi22 , thanks so much!

[Scott_Brown · Accepted solution]

This is somewhat true, but there are some issues with your statement.

For all food products, you need need to state the allergen and nutrient information for them. Once you have stated everything you have, then you can check the relevant data provided flag to indicate you have no more content to provide. It is important to state what you know about your product otherwise you are taking the liability that someone who has an allergen or sensitivity may get incorrect information on your product. Without nutrient information operators may not choose your product for another's product which does contain this information.

We are aware that one or two recipients are not following the common agreement around the relevant data provided flags. We have reached out and are working to get them to use them correctly. Please note, everyone needs to follow the correct use case of provide all you have then check the box. If suppliers are not following this protocol, then recipients will have to abandon it and ask for everything to be provided whether you know or not.

[nancyVigo]

@Scott_Brown Good morning!

Maybe I wasn't very clear on what I was told during the Foodservice webinar, which was to list every allergen for a particular product, then pick "True" on the indicators.

I asked a question regarding products such as Pepper & Salt Grinders (which do not have any allergens) and was told that I did not have to enter any allergens and pick "Free From" as long as the indicators were both "True."

This is the reason why I have not been listing "Free From" on products that do not have any allergens.

What is the correct way to proceed from here?

[Scott_Brown · Accepted solution]

What your reply states, is correct and in alignment with what I was stating as well. List what you have to provide, then the relevant flag should be set to true. If there are not allergens, then only the flag is set. 

You should not have to list any free from information unless you actually state it on the product or its packaging. This is the main purpose for the relevant data flag.

As I mentioned, however, a couple of recipients are not following this and we have reached out to get them to correct their use.

[nancyVigo]

Awesome!  Thanks so much for clarifying this for me.  Have a great day!