NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1 General Labeling Specification for Prepackaged Foods and Nonalcoholic Beverages - Commercial and Health Information

The purpose of the standard “NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1 General labeling specifications for prepackaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages - Commercial and health information” published under the Official Mexican Standard (NOM) is to determine the commercial and health information that must be included on the labels of prepackaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages of national or foreign production and to determine the characteristics of said information.

This standard applies to all prepackaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages of national and foreign production intended for consumers in the national territory. However, the following are excluded from the scope of this standard:

• Prepackaged foods and nonalcoholic beverages that are subject to commercial and health information provisions contained in certain Mexican official standards or other existing federal regulations that expressly exclude compliance with this standard.
• Bulk products.
• Packaged food and non-alcoholic beverages at the point of sale.
• Other products that the competent authority may determine within its authority.

For the purposes of this standard, the following terms, definitions, symbols and abbreviations apply:

• The agreement refers to the agreement that determines the substances permitted to be used as additives and excipients in food, beverages and food supplements published by the Ministry of Health.
• An additive is any permitted substance included in the formulation of products without having nutritional properties and which improves the stability, preservation, appearance or acceptability of the products by acting as a stabilizer, preservative or modifier of their organoleptic properties.
• Food is any substance or product, solid, semi-solid, natural or transformed, that provides the body with the elements necessary for its nutrition.
• Sugars are all the monosaccharides and disaccharides found in a food or soft drink.
• A soft drink is any natural or processed liquid that provides the body with the elements necessary for its nutrition and contains less than 2 percent ethyl alcohol by volume.
• A nutritional statement is any text or representation that states, suggests or implies that a prepackaged food or non-alcoholic beverage has specific nutritional properties, and not solely in relation to its energy value or protein, fat or lipid content, carbohydrate or carbohydrates, or vitamin and inorganic nutrients (minerals) content.

The general labeling requirements are set out as follows:

• The information on the labels of prepackaged food and non-alcoholic beverages must be truthful and must be described and presented in a way that does not mislead the consumer about the nature and features of the product.
• Prepackaged products must be presented with a label that uses words, pictures, or other graphic representations that describe or refer to the product.
• Labels containing prepackaged products may include a graphic or descriptive description of the use, employment or preparation recommendation, provided that a legend referring to this is included.
• Prepackaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages cannot be identified or presented with a label that uses words, text, dialogue, pictures, images, appellations of origin or other descriptions that could directly or indirectly be confused with another product or lead the consumer to assume that the food is in any way related to that other product.

Small products with a largest surface area of ​​less than 10 cm2, excluding spices and aromatic herbs, may be exempted from the following requirements:

• The name or description of the prepackaged product must match the name or description established in specific jurisdictions. In the absence of these, the commonly used name may be specified or a description that conforms to the essential characteristics of the composition and nature of the prepackaged food or non-alcoholic beverage and does not mislead or deceive the consumer may be used.
• The label of prepackaged products sold individually must include a list of ingredients not found in single-ingredient products. The ingredients of a prepackaged food or nonalcoholic beverage must be listed in descending quantitative order (w/w).
• A compound ingredient must be declared when it constitutes more than 5 percent of the food or non-alcoholic beverage and must be accompanied by a listing in parentheses of the constituent ingredients in descending quantitative order (m/m), including additives that perform a technological function in the finished product or are associated with allergic reactions.
• Added water must be stated in order of weight in the ingredients list, except when it is part of a compound ingredient and declared as such in the list and used in cooking and reconstitution processes.
• In dried or concentrated foods intended to be reconstituted, the ingredients may be listed in descending quantitative order (m/m) on the reconstituted product, provided that a statement is included.
• In the list of components, a unique name must be used in accordance with the principles of this standard.
• Lard, beef fat or tallow must always be declared by their specific names.
• Any additive used in the ingredients of a prepackaged food or non-alcoholic beverage and transferred to another prepackaged product in a significant amount or in an amount sufficient to perform a technological function in that product must be added to the list of ingredients.
• Additives that are transferred to prepackaged food and non-alcoholic beverages and no longer have a technological function in the finished product, as well as production aids, with the exception of those that may cause hypersensitivity, are exempt from declaration in the list of ingredients.
• All ingredients or additives that may cause hypersensitivity, intolerance or allergy must be declared in accordance with the relevant legal regulations.
• The following types of foods and ingredients that cause hypersensitivity should always be declared: gluten-containing cereals (e.g. wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt or their hybrids and products thereof), crustaceans and products thereof, eggs and egg products, fish and fishery products, peanuts and products thereof, soybeans and products thereof (excluding soybean oil), milk and dairy products (including lactose), hazelnuts and derivatives, and sulphites at concentrations of 10 mg/kg or more.
• In the declaration of additives used in the production of prepackaged food and non-alcoholic beverages, the common name of the substance in question or, in its absence, one of the synonyms specified in the agreement must be used.

Our organization, which has been trying to support businesses from every sector with its testing, measurement, analysis and evaluation studies carried out in a wide range for years, has a strong staff that closely follows the developments in the world in the field of science and technology and constantly improves itself. In this context, testing services are also provided to businesses in accordance with the standard “NOM-051-SCFI/SSA1 General labeling specifications for pre-packaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages - Commercial and health information”.