What's a Regulatory Specialist? What's lasagna with meat sauce? All of your life questions a

The one question that follows me everywhere I go is.… “So, what do you do?” I’m sure you get it all the time as well as it’s a real conversation starter. You’ve probably even taken the time to think of an easy way to explain what you do in layman’s terms so that a toddler could understand. Perhaps you are a “consultant” and what you do changes all the time. That’s a hard one to explain besides the fact that you might say that you travel a lot. My fool-proof toddler answer? “I label food products.” Then here it comes… “You… label foods?” Yep! Because honestly, who really knows what a Regulatory Specialist does in this world? It’s not exactly your common household vernacular that gets thrown around on TV like “accountant” or “chef.” Even worse, when I go on to explain that I work at Nestle, a common answer I get is “You work at Nestle? But you’re a Dietitian!” Yea, so? Shut up. It’s actually a great job for a nutritionist since, really, what do you find on your food labels? Nutrition facts! Ever since the Nutrition Labeling Education Act of 1990, the US Government has required all packaged foods sold in the US to wear mandatory labeling elements that are mandated under FDA and USDA jurisdiction. Plain and simple, these government agencies require your food labels by law to show the true product name, nutrition facts panel, ingredient statement, net weight, food safety and handling statements, USDA inspection legend (if applicable), signature/distributed by line, and give or take some other elements. All of this is mandatory in order to protect you, the consumer, from being misled and for food safety reasons. Can you believe that before the 1990’s, there were no mandatory ingredient statements or nutrition facts panels on your food?! I can’t imagine a world without them.

Of course, there are exceptions to many of these elements and I will go over each one in detail in future posts for now, let's focus on the most basic - the product name: 1. The true product name: A legal description of the product.

- Example: Lasagna with meat sauce

The standard of identity of lasagna with meat sauce states that it must have at least 6% meat in the total product. However, if it were to ask for lasagna with meat AND sauce, the total product is required to have at least 12% meat. Mind blown. *mic drop*

To learn about some other USDA standards of identity, here is a link to the USDA Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book

Ever wonder what the legal description of sadghetti is?

Anyways..... hopefully after reading this and my future posts, I can say that I’m a Regulatory Specialist and you’ll know that I’m some kind of guardian of food labels, a goddess of nutrition facts, a protector of you – the consumer.