Hershey Goes Forward With Nutrition Labels
HERSHEY, Pa. — With food transparency playing a larger role in consumers' lives than ever, The Hershey Co. is refreshing the Nutrition Facts panel on its products.
The most significant changes include more prominent calorie and serving size information, updated daily values and serving sizes, and new information about added sugars.
Even though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently delayed the original July 2018 deadline to implement the new labeling system, Hershey is going forward with the rollout throughout 2017 and 2018. The move follows the FDA's announcement in May 2016 of a new label design for packaged foods.
According to the company, updating the Nutrition Facts panel is part of Hershey's broader commitment to transparency and making it easier for people to access more information about their food so they can make informed choices.
The company will roll out the new nutrition and ingredient transparency tools with its most iconic brand, Hershey's Kisses Milk Chocolate, which will be among the first to hit shelves this fall with packaging that features the new Nutrition Facts panel, Facts Up Front calorie label, and SmartLabel QR codes. Hershey stated that moving forward, all of its new products will launch with these new labeling features.
Hershey is also creating SmartLabel landing pages linked to detailed product and ingredient information for all products in its U.S. portfolio, coming by the end of 2017, followed by QR codes at the end of 2018. Additionally, it will add Facts Up Front calorie labeling to all its standard- and king-size confectionery products, which will be completed by the end of next year.
The latest nutrition label moves come after The Hershey Co. announced the launch of Sourcemap, an interactive mapping tool that provides visibility into the supply chain by showing consumers where Hershey has plotted its manufacturing facilities, as well as the origins of key ingredients for two of the company's most iconic products, Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Almonds and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, as CSNews Online previously reported.