8

Food packaging has
gross errors and ignore legal specifications

Imported labels omit information

Raquel do Carmo Santos

PResearch by nutritionist Sylvia Helena de Mendonça Villela, conducted at the Faculty of Food Engineering, analyzed around 120 imported food products sold in Campinas and found no less than 555 inadequacies in the labeling. Although almost all products presented mandatory information declarations, many of them were incomplete, with translation and Portuguese errors. In many, the description of the nutritional composition was missing.

According to the nutritionist, the opening of markets has enabled an increase in the import of packaged or pre-packaged foods across countries. "Although Brazil participates in this global process, the legislation in force in the country and the inspection of these imported products have not yet adapted to the growing import process." For Sylvia, the results of her research suggest that, in order to offer safe food, laws need to be clear. The industry and importers must be guided and monitored, and the consumer needs to be warned about the risks.

More serious examples - Among the most serious cases, Sylvia found that only half of the products had the specification “contains gluten”. The other part of the packaging didn't even mention the description. In addition to being mandatory under the legislation in force at the time of the study - Law 8543, of 23/12/1992 -, the information should be highlighted in relation to the other data on the label, which was not found. This type of information directly affects people with celiac disease who cannot tolerate the ingredient (component) in their body. Another inadequacy was the lack of data on the product manufacturer. In more than half of the products, there was only the name of the importer and no other information on how to locate him, for example, in the case of a complaint or doubt. "All these specifications are provided for by law and are not observed. This leaves the consumer with no guarantees regarding the safety of the food", declares Sylvia.

Portuguese errors also appeared on the packaging. Phrases such as "Keep out of reach of moisture and sunlight" and "Consume preferably before..." (sic) were found. This type of information, according to Sylvia, raises doubts for the consumer. Inaccuracies were also identified regarding the weight of the product.

Many companies declared the nutritional composition on the packaging in the product's language of origin, but did not do so in the official language of the destination country, in this case Brazil. According to legislation RDC 155, dated 27/5/2002, it is mandatory for foods sold in the country to declare their nutritional composition, offering more important and useful information to the consumer.

Best sellers - The study was carried out from March to November 2000, with funding from the Unicamp Research Support Fund (Faep) and resulted in the master's thesis "Analysis of Labels of imported packaged foods sold in the city of Campinas - SP.", guided by professor Elisabete Salay. The study is part of a larger project coordinated by Elisabete and which covers the area of ​​food security.

In her research, Sylvia took as her object imported packaged foods, sold in retail outlets in Campinas. Initially, she identified the best-selling products in two commercial establishments and separated them into two groups, according to legislation - cereals and flour, including pasta and biscuits, and the fruit and similar group, which consists of sweets in syrup and jellies. .

With the best-selling products in hand, the nutritionist began to thoroughly analyze each product specification. She found that more than half of importers use the label glued to the packaging, which shows that it is a more practical way. The method, however, did not prove to be efficient. According to Sylvia, 52% of the labels were stuck over other mandatory information or over other texts on the label, impairing reading and understanding, in addition to being in disagreement with legislation.

Clarity and sharpness - During the study, Sylvia observed that in the laws studied, some attributes are not defined in the legislation. In this case, it is up to the producer, packer or importer to interpret them as they wish. "When legislation says that information must be 'clear', it does not define what is relevant in this term", she explains. She explains that there are several parameters to analyze different products. Therefore, in her work the researcher adopted that the term "clarity" would eliminate ambiguity, as it would be easy to understand.

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