Packaging Happenings: Shanghai traffic light labelling, Kirin's luxury wine marketing, Zespri's Nudge Theory packaging and more feature in our round-up

Nutri-Grade in China: Shanghai launches traffic light labelling pilot for sugar-sweetened beverages​

The local government of Shanghai, China has launched a pilot traffic light labelling scheme for sugar-sweetened beverages, with grades to be implemented based on not only sugar but also saturated and trans-fat content.

The pilot was announced by the Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention (SCDC) to cover both prepackaged RTD beverages for retail as well as freshly-prepared beverages such as those sold in tea shops and cafes.

The traffic light labelling scheme is similar to those used in other markets such as Singapore (Nutri-Grade) and the United Kingdom (Nutri-Score), and is quite similarly termed as 营养选择 which translates roughly to ‘Nutritional Choice’.

Similar to these other schemes, it utilises a green-to-red colour scheme and the letters A to D to designate the nutritional value of beverages, so the most highly-recommended items would have a dark green ‘A’ label, and the least-recommended ones would have a red ‘D’ label.

Jewel of Japan: Kirin’s Mercian partners with Chilean wine giant to boost worldwide reach​

Kirin wine brand Mercian is partnering with Chilean wine giant Concha y Toro to launch a series of premium products including Japanese wines with a globalised flavour profile to improve its worldwide reach.

Chateau Mercian is one of Japan’s leading wine brands, whereas Concha y Toro is one of the 10 largest wine companies globally.

The new partnership between both parties, dubbed the Pacific Link Project, will look at seasonal developments of two new wines of Chilean and Japanese origin throughout the year based on the seasonal differences in both countries, and launches to be made within Concha y Toro’s new luxury marketing strategy dubbed Jewels of the New World, where it pairs each luxury wine with a precious gemstone such as opal, topaz or lapis lazuli as part of its marketing.

“The Jewels concept is a marketing method we conceptualised based on 19 months of market research conducted on wealthy Asian consumers,”​ Viña Concha y Toro Regional Director for Asia Pacific Guy Nussey said.

“We found that affluent consumers in this market want wines that are more traditional and higher quality than their peers in developed western markets – in short, they value the associated status of a wine over being a connoisseur, and they value the story and experience behind a wine over its history."​

Fruity paradox: Zespri hopes Nudge Theory can increase APAC’s low fruit consumption​

Fruit intake in APAC remains well-below the recommended levels, despite around 90% of consumers being aware of its health benefits, says kiwi firm Zespri.

Recent research from the firm found that only about 10% are eating the recommended five daily portions.

“It’s a real paradox,” ​Zespri Innovation and Sustainability Officer Jiunn Shih told FoodNavigator-Asia​. “The World Health Organisation has been urging this rate of fruit and vegetable consumption for over two decades, but we can see that APAC is very far from hitting this recommendation.​

“This is so even in [developed markets such as] Singapore – over 50% of Singaporeans today are not eating fruits every day, and 93% of those we surveyed expressed a desire to eat more fruits."​

Clear and simple: Taiwan formalises requirements for nutrition claims language for prepackaged foods​

Taiwan has finalised the labelling requirements when making nutrition claims for prepackaged foods, after completing two public consultations across more than two years of deliberation.

The Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been attempting to tighten nutritional labelling regulations for packaged food products in the market since 2021​ in a bid to prevent ‘hidden’ or ‘implied messages about product benefits.

The Taiwan FDA has now published specific guidelines and questionnaires specifying how manufacturers are to word their nutrition claims on prepackaged food products.

Sustainability snags: More support needed from APAC retailers to match brand efforts – experts​

Retailers in APAC need to increase the support given to sustainability-focused food and beverage products in order to match brand initiatives and boost consumer awareness, say experts.

Although sustainability has been identified as a rising trend in the APAC food and beverage scene for some time, it is yet to take off to the same extent as western nations.

According to sustainability-focused brands within the industry, one area where support is still lacking is at the retailer level.

They argue more needs to be done at this stage before consumers get the level of exposure required to make sustainability part of their everyday lifestyles.

“Many companies and brands are trying to be ethical and responsible by increasing their sustainability focus, and there are many SMEs which are fully sustainability-focused – all of which are facing similar challenges,”​ sustainable tea brand English Tea Shop Founder and CEO Suranga Herath told FoodNavigator-Asia​.