New and Updated Attributes for Specifications

2nd February 2022

In response to user feedback and the upcoming plastic packaging tax, Erudus has added two new attributes to the Erudus specification data set and have updated three existing attributes. Details about the new and updated attributes can be found below.

New Attributes:

% Recycled Packaging

In preparation for the upcoming plastic packaging tax, a new attribute has been added to the inner, outer and transport packaging sections of the Erudus specification. The new attribute is named "% Recycled Packaging"  appears next to the plastic packaging weight attributes.

Manufacturers can now update their specifications to communicate the amount of recycled plastic in their packaging to the wholesalers that are buying their products By doing this before the new tax is introduced manufacturers will greatly reduce the number of requests to provide this information to individual customers by having the data available in the Erudus data pool.

Manufacturers can update their specifications by following guidance in the Editing a Product Specification Knowledgebase Article.

Count Per Pack

A new non-mandatory attribute can now be found in the "Nutritional Information" section of the Erudus specification. Manufacturers can now declare the number of items contained in an inner pack of their product in addition to average serving sizes and count per 100g.

Updated Attributes:

Country of Origin ("EU" and "Non EU" Addition)

From today, manufacturers will see two new additions to the dropdown menu when selecting the country of origin for a product. The two new options are "European Union" and "Non European Union".

Generic Product Type ("Drinks - General" Addition)

From today, there is a new classification for product specifications in the "Generic Product Type" attribute dropdown selection. The new generic product type is "Drinks - General" and this will sit alongside "Drinks - Juices" and Drinks - "Dry (Tea, Coffee etc)" to offer a more robust classification of drink products.

Manufacturers of drink products should review their specifications to ensure they are correctly classified which will make them even easier to find in the Erudus data pool by wholesalers and retailers using the Erudus Query Builder.

Microbiological and Analytical Standards Testing Frequency ("Fortnightly" Addition)

From today, manufacturers that are entering the microbiological and analytical standards testing records for their specifications can now set the frequency of any of the tests to "Fortnightly" where this has previously not been an option. This allows manufacturers to now communicate more accurate information regarding the testing frequency of their products.