Companies that want to bring a new product to market eventually run up against the hurdle of product labeling and what messages to convey to the consumer. The object here is to 1) give consumers good reasons to buy a product and not a competitor’s, and 2) be truthful. Regulations are in place to prevent products from misleading consumers, forcing marketing departments to get creative with label claims in order to stand out from all the rest.

Misleading consumers is a big issue for regulatory authorities. Quite apart from health claims, the presentation of a product alone can lead consumers to think that a product marketed as a dietary supplement is really a medicinal product, especially when drug-like language is used.
 
But it’s not just words that are scrutinized for misleading messages—images on the label, too, can be considered a claim, even an implied health claim. For example, an image of a fish wearing glasses and writing in a book on an omega 3 product aimed at children constitutes a brain health claim, which is not allowed for a children’s product. Thus, the image in this case is in violation of the health claim regulation.

In the case of food products, the image of a strawberry on the box could prompt consumers to expect that strawberries were involved in the manufacturing of that food. And unless this is really the case in a clearly defined way—and it was not, say, merely strawberry flavor that was used—this, too, can mislead consumers.

Consumers have become skeptical of products as advertised. In fact, many have grown to suspect that the fruit lumps in their yogurt are not really pieces of peach. And sometimes, this is in fact the case. While it is not illegal to use fruit flavors instead of fruit, it is illegal to claim that a peach-flavored lump of something else is a piece of peach.

In this day and age of social media, consumers have the immediate ability to offer feedback on products, and make purchasing decisions based on such reviews. Public forums such as Germany’s “Klarheit und Wahrheit” (“Clarity and Truth”—www.lebensmittelklarheit.de) is a portal where consumers can make commnets on and whether or not a product keeps the promise stated in its label claims.
 
Germany’s Food Safety Authority BVL (Bundesamt für Lebensmittelsicherheit), a government-supported Internet portal, offers current topics, featured products, a user forum and information on food labeling—all enabling interested consumers to learn about the ins and outs of labeling and what is and isn’t allowed in product claims. The forum also allows direct communication with experts, where users can ask questions on labeling and also, most crucially, allow them to report products they think are inappropriately labeled and, forgive the pun, not peachy.

This portal, however, is not without controversy. Manufacturers fear it could be used to intentionally disparage products, potentially impacting sales. A prominent German alliance of food industry stakeholders, the BLL (Bund für Lebensmittelrecht und Lebensmittelkunde), is watching the portal with a critical eye, warning against falsely accusing products of misleading consumers, even though the products in question do conform to the regulations. Since the portal is government-sanctioned and even financed in part through taxpayers’ money, the BLL says objectivity must be ensured in every way.

While consumer protection against false advertising is important, it is equally critical to protect manufacturers from what, in some cases, could amount to slander.

Dr. Joerg Gruenwald is President of analyze & realize ag, a specialized business consulting company and CRO in the fields of nutraceuticals, dietary supplements, herbals and functional food, and author of the PDR for Herbal Medicines. He can be reached at analyze & realize ag, Waldseeweg 6, 13467 Berlin, Germany, Tel: 49-30-40008100; Fax: 49-30-40008500; E-mail: jgruenwald@analyze-realize.com; Website: www.analyze-realize.com.