Interview Brief on RJR 94.4FM Grow Your Business

TOPIC: KEY CONSIDERATIONS IN PRODUCT LABELLING
Interviewee: Colin Porter

• Purpose of labels
• What are the types of product labels? E.g. brand labels, informative labels, descriptive labels, and grade labels.
• What are the benefits to be derived from appropriate and effective labelling?
• Pitfalls as a result of inappropriate labelling
• What are the elements that MUST be included in product labelling?
• Anything specific for export markets?
• What services does IRC offer in labelling?
• Any partnerships in this regard? E.g. BSJ etc.


I spoke to Colin Porter regarding the questions above. These are the answers: 

what is the purpose of labels?

 

Why do we label our products

-          We label all products for several reasons. First, it is to identify the product. Cleaning, you identify the brand that is associated with the product. You identify what the particular product is, and you use that to attract your customers to promote your brand. Also, labels are important to convey and communicate critical information to the consumer.

-          This information may include the makeup of the product, where it is made, any particular instruction about consumption of product, any other safety warnings, and any other information which you may think is critical to, the use of the product.

Several of the labels that I've been seeing are what I would describe as subpar.

You will always see a wide spectrum of labels, ranging from those that you described, which are not very attractive, which are poorly done to those which are very eye catching and attractive and so on. Now when it comes to labels and to be clear, we're talking about labels for food products in particular or consumed products. Because other products for other categories also have labels with requirements that may slightly differ. But when it comes to food products in particular, as I mentioned, the purpose of label is twofold, is for branding purposes. So you want to avoid that wishy washy label as you may describe it and not very attractive.

 

It can't make out the logo or who is behind it, and the color is not attractive to grab your attention on a shelf or anything like that. So you want to ensure that those kind follow certain market trends, consumer trends in terms of, the type of colours you use and what the colours mean and so on. On the other hand, labels are also, regulated item, and they have to meet certain regulatory requirements. In Jamaica, that would those would be, managed by the bureau standards. And that would include key factual information, such as the ingredients which are in the product Mhmm.

 

The place of origin. You would have all sorts of things like a nutritional panel, which tells you the nutritional makeup of the product. So those products which may make a health claim, you all also want to have that state in a particular way, but making health claims in particular have to be verified by the Ministry of Health. So you can't just widely make a claim that this product will make it to grow 6 inches in 2 months without it being validated by the the the relevant authorities. Okay.

So, yes, the design of the label is important. Of course, it's important to have an expert who understands the layout of labels and where to place what information, at the front of the label or on the side or back panels also makes a difference.

So I'm seeing here that there are some different types of labels, which include brand labels, informative labels, descriptive labels, grade labels. Can one product have all of this included in one label?

 

Now, the label is that bit of information that has to be attached to the primary packaging of the product. And the primary packaging typically is that level of packaging in which the consumer, engages with a product. And it is the packaging which contains official product is contained in. Right? And so that information from the branding information, the informational information, and all the other information that I just mentioned have to be incorporated in that label. Because once a consumer picks up that item and looks at it, they need to be fully informed. Across the board about the product and who is behind it.

 

And those are according to the standards. And especially the product split, Do the standards differ and the labelling, practices differ when the product is to be sold across borders versus locally?

Yes. There are differences.  Most countries have some fundamental aspects of their standards, which are universal. So having the name of the brand, having the name of the product, the ingredients, the net contents in terms of weight or volume. And certain information, the place of origin Are universal.

However, some countries and some regions may have their own unique requirements of which you'll have to abide. So you have to do research and find out where are you exporting to and what are those specific requirements. So for example, in Canada and certain other countries, it requires that your label are bilingual. In the case of Canada, your labels have to be in both English and French.

In other, jurisdictions, the name of the ingredients must be universally, known. So you have to use scientific name. You can't you can't use parochial or local nicknames or common names, which may not be understood in other, jurisdictions.

So you have to use scientific names or names which are internationally known. Right? And there are other requirements which you'll have to abide by, which includes even the format and placement of labels. Now a lot of con countries are moving towards putting some nutritional information on the front panel, which means as you look at the front of label, you know, how many calories it has, how many carbohydrates, how much sugar, how much sodium, that type of thing. So labelling requirements vary per country, so you have to understand the regulations for each country before you endeavour to export in that country.

So quickly, could you help me with understanding the pitfalls if you go ahead and you label your products inappropriately and you try to get them on your shelves?

Well, the main pitfall is that your product can be removed by, relevant authorities. It exposes your total certain, risks.  If your product harms someone, then it places you in a in a bad position before that person can obviously take it to court or what have you. You can lose your entire, products from off the shelf, really. So it is important that you abide by what the guidelines are, what the standards are. But most importantly, it's not just you following the standards and say, yes I can just put my label and put the product on the shelves. In Jamaica, the labels have to be approved by the Bureau of Standards. And going into international markets, they have to be approved by whatever regulatory agency is in that country is. So, you have to get that approval before you can put your product on the shelf. Otherwise, you'll stand a risk of the products being confiscated and removed from the shelf.

So I come in with, a product, and I want JBTC to help me with the labelling. Take me through the steps.

So the first step always starts with a consultation with a technical officer. In this case, a food technologist or someone who is, experienced in the in the particular type of product. Then based on their analysis of the product and information you would have provided with them in terms of what the makeup of the product is and so on. Then you would meet with some graphic designer who would need to understand a bit about your brand story and your brand history and so on and what your preferences are and so on.

And they would use that information to start creating a label. the client will have to provide the design with a design brief, which contains all this information in terms of what you want on labour, what you want from the branding perspective, but also from the technical information perspective. And then, you know, the both the designer, the graphic designer, and the food expert will work closer together to ensure that, we design a label which meets requirements of the client.

Tell me about the partnership with BSJ. How does BSJ come in?

We work very closely with BSJ. As we mentioned earlier, that labels have to be approved by the BSJ before they can go on a product. So once we have worked with the client and designed the label and meeting the requirements, we work according to the standards, which the BSJ has.

Then our relationship with BSJ would see us providing the client with a referral letter. Which they would take to BSJ to have that label approved. And they would benefit from a 25% discount on the cost of what Bureau of standards would charge to do the label assessment.

That while we're doing the label design, there are times when a client may not have an appropriate logo. And we can design the logo for you as well, which we would incorporate in the label.

Sometimes clients come with logos which may not necessarily reflect who they are or what they should be representing from a brand perspective. So, we do that as well.


Use this information, as well as other information online that supports what Colin has to say.  


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