GI Testing and Endorsement Procedure
The GIFSA logo and Diabetes SA logo are available at a reasonable cost to any manufacturer who wishes to have a product labelled, provided the product complies with the specifications. Several food companies have already had the GI of many of their products determined by GIFSA e.g. Bokomo, Kellogg’s, Sasko, Sunbake, Premier Foods and Tiger Brands. Dairymaid was the first company to mark one of their products i.e. Dialite with the Frequent Foods logo. With little trouble a food company can have any of their products graded and labelled and thereby obtain an important advantage over competitive products.
The process to get GIFSA and DSA endorsement typically take place in four steps.
1. Evaluation and Assessment
The product is evaluated against the specifications. Please see the webpage for your type of product. We would need your product formulation for this, which we use to do an evaluation and theoretical GI calculation. We keep your information strictly confidential and are willing to sign a document in this regard. The initial evaluation is fairly cheap: – R1380+VAT. Follow up calculations after changes to the formula may be necessary, is officially R690+VAT, but is most often not needed.
2. Nutritional Analyses
After the initial assessment you would have to have a nutritional analyses done with the CSIR, AB Maurie or another Lab. Specifically important is to get the glycemic carbohydrate value for you product. The cost would probably be about R7500 (once off). See the attached document for your attention when you have this done.
3. GI Testing
We would then do a Glycemic Index test on human subjects after receiving samples of your product. GIFSA’s fee is R14200+VAT (once off). There is usually a waiting period of a couple of weeks or months depending upon our testing schedule.
4. Endorsement Agreement
If your product meets all the criteria you may opt to participate in the endorsement program. The fee is R9700+VAT annually for either the GIFSA or DSA logo. Using both the GIFSA and DSA logos comes at a discounted cost of R14550+VAT. Huge discounts, 50%, for second and subsequent products within a range is standard. You sign a contract with us that would fix the fee for three years and allow GIFSA to hold you accountable to the formula of your product.
GIFSA aims to make a definite impact on the health of our citizens. The design of the logo is geared to reach all the communities of South Africa. Major role players have already indicated that they intend to participate actively in educating the public in this rating of foods. This makes it possible for your company to use the logo at a nominal fee. We believe that the public, and specifically those with medical conditions should be able to clearly identify the food products that are not harmful. It is also time that healthy food products receive the credit they should. By using the GIFSA endorsement logo with the Diabetes SA logo, your company’s healthy foods can be clearly identified by the consumer.