With the holiday season fast approaching, the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) is urging food and beverage entrepreneurs to add nutrition facts labels to their products to potentially boost sales.
Nutrition labels are an informative way for consumers to know the nutritional composition or qualities of a packaged food product. These labels appear in a tabular form on the product’s packaging and help consumers plan a healthy diet.
“Nutrition labels list down the components of the food so that consumers, especially those who are watching what they eat, can determine if the product is for them. The labels also show that the food or beverage being offered has undergone testing in accordance with safety and nutritional standards which gives consumers assurance that your product is safe to consume,” DOST-FNRI Director Dr. Imelda Angeles-Agdeppa said.
Labels also boost the credibility of the product or the brand, which increases the chances of customer purchase. In a study by Food Industry Asia (FIA), 81 percent of Filipinos acknowledge the importance of a healthy, balanced diet and would like clearer nutrition labels that also show food or beverage benefits.
In the Philippines, the Food and Drug Administration or FDA requires food manufacturers, importers, and distributors to include nutrition facts in the packaging of their prepackaged products.
Aside from the nutrition label, food entrepreneurs who want to check their food product’s quality, safety, and nutritional value can also consult the DOST-FNRI.
“Food and beverage owners can partner with the DOST-FNRI to help them with their laboratory needs. They can rely on our service laboratories’ competence so that they can ensure that they’re putting out the best and safest version of their product in the market,” explained Dr. Angeles-Agdeppa.
Food and beverage entrepreneurs in need of laboratory analysis can avail of the DOST-FNRI laboratory services, including nutritional analysis as well as drafting of the nutrition label.
The Institute houses the country’s flagship team in conducting quality and safety evaluations of food and its impact on an individual’s nutrition and well-being. Its service laboratories work on sensory assessment, as well as chemical, microbiological, and biochemical analyses of food, functional food, water quality and safety, and other biological samples.
The Institute has four main service laboratories (DOST-FNRI-SL), namely: the Biochemical Laboratory, Chemical Laboratory, Microbiological Laboratory, and Sensory Evaluation Laboratory.
As an ISO-accredited laboratory, the DOST-FNRI Biochemical Laboratory analyzes serum vitamin A and Urinary Iodine Concentration. With this, they participate in quality assurance programs of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
On the other hand, the DOST-FNRI Chemical Laboratory is the focal laboratory of the DOST for nutrition labeling. Their PRC-registered and experienced chemists use state-of-the-art lab equipment such as HPLC, AAS, Gas Chromatography, and UV-VIS Spectrophotometer for chemical analyses of food samples.
The DOST-FNRI Microbiological Laboratory analyzes both food and water samples, especially marine food products. They conduct microbiological testing to assess hygiene and product quality. Foodborne pathogens, if present, are detected and enumerated in this lab through the real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method.
If a food business owner plans to boost their competitiveness in the international market, the DOST-FNRI Sensory Evaluation Laboratory (SEL) can be their partner in product development.
The SEL is where packaged food and beverage products undergo testing before being distributed to retail establishments. Trained managers, sensory analysts, panel leaders, and panelists help entrepreneurs in the product development phase, offering product sensory profiling, batch consistency monitoring, and consumer acceptability tests.
“The SEL also offers training and consultancy services to help local businesses move up the value chain and achieve global competence,” shared Dr. Angeles-Agdeppa.
The DOST-FNRI-SEL are ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited by the Philippine Accreditation Bureau (PAB). Learn more about the quality and affordable services of the DOST-FNRI by visiting https://i.fnri.dost.gov.ph/.
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