Calorie-conscious eating is a long-established lifestyle choice that prompts consumers to make decisions about food and drink selections. It has only recently become an issue for those in packaging and communications in the sector.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just announced a rebrand of its mandatory Nutrition Facts labels on all food and drink products. The rebrand has affected the design of the prolific labels slightly, but has made it easier for brands to communicate their healthy benefits and the contents of their products.

The labels date back to 1933 as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programme. The recent change seeks to encourage healthier lifestyles, reflecting the FDA’s public health objectives. The UK’s Food Standards Agency provides FMCG companies with guidelines about nutritional information, but does not delineate a specific design format.

Darren Foley, MD at Pearlfisher, a global packaging and design agency, says this is beneficial to UK brands, “Whilst information needs to be clear and concise, we are pleased that we do not (yet) have standardisation when it comes to food labelling. Rather than making life easier for brands, a one size fits all approach is not necessarily the best way to connect with and educate consumers. Above all, it's about remembering that there is an opportunity here to use good design to create effective change.”

The responsibility, Foley says, lies on the shoulders of designers to both integrate the required nutritional info into packaging design and to make it as clear and easy to use as it can be. The U.S.’s strictly regulated Nutrition Facts label provides for ease of use and clarity of information, and even more so after the rebrand, but the UK’s guideline-oriented approach allows for both brand freedom and for changes in the market.

Foley says, “If we look at the hugely popular Free From market, we are seeing both existing and new brands respond to food allergies, sensitivities and the lifestyle changes of consumers by developing new languages and aesthetics that are changing the perception of this market from staid, limited, mundane and bland to a fresh, exciting, varied and easy way to eat. In this way, these brands are building (a new) desire amongst their established audience and – maybe more significantly – now drawing in a brand new food savvy audience.”