Labeling: Rationalizing (negotiating) mix compositions, market positioning and more

he U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-101) outlines requirements and considerations related to the labeling of foods, including ice cream and frozen desserts. This includes the principal display panel of the food, net weight labeling/considerations, ingredient labeling, nutrition facts labeling, nutrient content claims, and any health-related claims (i.e., structure/function claims, implied, qualified, and full health claims.)

We are often asked, “Where to start?” Sometimes, it’s best to begin at the end.

In addition to the above, other key considerations support market positioning of any given frozen dessert including what can/cannot be declared. These features (facts) many times define final mix/frozen dessert compositions, ingredient selection, process considerations, form/format/packaging options, economics, and may/may not include the following:

• What is to be declared about the final frozen dessert? Is it Food and Drug Administration (or another appropriate food regulatory authority)-related (i.e., standard of identity for frozen desserts, general labeling, nutrient content labeling, etc.) and/or Federal Trade Commission (advertising)-related directives?

Regulatory definitions

• Full-fat ice cream or other standardized frozen dairy dessert?
• Low fat, reduced fat, non-fat (fat-free)?
• Reduced, no sugar(s) added, sugar-free?
• Reduced, low calorie; calorie-free?
• “Natural”? (non-bioengineered?)
• Non-standard “frozen dairy dessert”?
• Non-standard “non-dairy frozen dessert”?

Certifications

• Halal, kosher, etc.
• Natural (“non-bioengineered”)
• Non-GMO
• Vegan/vegan-compatible
• Gluten-free
• Keto diet-compatible
• Other?
• Where is/are/how are product(s) to be sold?
• Distribution/supply chain considerations. How are goods to be distributed across the supply chain? Will common carriers be used? Direct-Store-Delivery (DSD)? Direct-Consumer-Delivery (DCD?)

Characterizing flavors (and compatible colorants?): Opportunities/barriers to competitive entry?

• Natural flavors? Natural and artificial flavors? Artificially flavored?
• Applying particulate and variegated inclusions compatible with flavor categories.
• FD&C colors? Sources of “natural color”?

Ingredient “tool box”

• What’s available?
• What is/is not allowed? Any use and/or rate limitations? GRAS ingredients versus GRAS “additives.”
• “Incidental additives?” “Process aids?” What needs to be labeled; what need not be labeled?
• What can/cannot be added at the flavor tank?
• Inclusions/variegates at the particulate injector/syrup injector.

Shelf-life expectations

• Relative resistance to heat shock can be determined in advance by comparing to other products within a product line or the competitive set.
• End of shelf life is defined as the feature (fact) that fails first. In most cases, for frozen desserts eating quality related to body (bite/chew) and texture (smoothness, creaminess) most likely to fail first.
• How long is the ice cream to be stored? Under what conditions will end-of-shelf-life be declared?

Mix processing

• How is the mix to be assembled?
• Pasteurization? Of mix? Rendering inclusions pathogen-free?
• Homogenization? Two-stage, PSI’s of each stage; managing fat droplet size.
• Cooled/Aged (time, temperature; < 40 degrees F; < 4 degrees C; four-hour minimum)
• Conditions of whipping/freezing.
• Finished weight per unit volume (overrun).
• Hardening Conditions (-40 degrees F; - 40 degrees C; speed to 0 degrees F; -18 degrees C core temperature).
• Ice cream supply chain conditions (-20 degrees F;)

Market positioning

• Identification of features (facts) and associated benefits (i.e., reasons-to-buy): The more reasons-to-buy (benefits), the more defensible the market positioning.
• SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats?
• Point-of-sale pricing: Pricing/costs are highly variable with each marketing/sales organization’s accounting approaches to fixed and variable costs; yields, losses, and, eventually, consideration of margins across the supply chain. Any final retail price point for any given product/flavor must be considered within the framework of a line-cost-average (retail price points per SKU versus expectant volume sales per SKU.)
• Other financial factors? Ice cream retail space, including dip shop operations, etc., is a matter of “real estate,” and, as such, of financial value to the retailer. What is to be declared at point-of-sale to differentiate a given frozen dessert from all other frozen desserts? As demand increases across all frozen desserts, the value of limited frozen dessert retail space increases. Think retailer’s return on invested assets (i.e., shelf-space.) Think repeat sales.

The good news: The more that can be identified as what is/is not important and what needs to be declared about the final food, the easier it becomes to determine mix compositions and accompanying mix analytics (freezing point, sweetness, mix density, water control indices, heat shock index, hardness/firmness index, freezer index, etc.), ingredient selection, overrun targets, and how that mix is to be assembled and processed, and, degree of resistance to expectant storage and distribution conditions, etc. in order to achieve any given set of objectives in the finished ice cream.

Certainly, a detailed and complex dance. Glad you asked? DF

Steven Young, Ph.D., is principal, Steven Young Worldwide; Bill Sipple is principal, Wm Sipple Global Services.