The aim of the standards is to improve the clarity and readability of food labels and thus help consumers make more conscious food choices. In addition to changes to the information table and nutrition claims, the novelty will be the adoption of nutrition labelling at the front of products.

The Nutritional Information Table will undergo the following changes:

• The table must contain only black letters and a white background;
• The declaration of total and added sugars, energy value and nutrients per 100 g or 100 ml will be mandatory, to help in identifying the comparison of products, as well as the number of servings per package;
• The table must be located, in general, next to the list of ingredients and on a continuous surface. A division is not accepted. It cannot be displayed in covered areas, deformed places or regions that are difficult to see.

The front nutrition label, that is, an informative symbol that must appear on the front panel of the package, is considered the biggest innovation of the rules. A ‘magnifying glass’ design was developed to identify the high content of three nutrients: added sugars, saturated fats and sodium. The symbol must be applied to the front of the package, at the top, as it is an area that is easily captured by our eyes.

DEADLINES:
Products launched from 10/09/2022 must already have the appropriate labels under the new rules. For products that are already on the market, the deadlines for adaptation are:

• 10/09/2023 for food in general;
• 10/09/2024 for food manufactured by a family farmer or rural family entrepreneur, solidary economic enterprise, individual micro-entrepreneur, small-scale agro-industry, artisanal agro-industry and homemade food;
• 10/09/2025 for non-alcoholic beverages in returnable packaging, observing the gradual process of label replacement.

Get in touch with one of our experts for more information on Anvisa’s regulatory changes on food labelling.