Food and Beverage Legal Counsel in Colombia: INVIMA, Labeling and Contracts
INVIMA sanitary registration, labeling, advertising, quality and supply-chain contracts. Law applied to the food and beverage business, from filing to shelf.
Few businesses carry as many regulatory layers on a single product as food and beverage. One reference has to be cleared by the health authority, labelled under the applicable rules, advertised without claims it cannot support, produced to verifiable standards and distributed under contracts that allocate risk properly. When something fails, the cost is rarely just legal: it is a batch immobilised, a campaign pulled, an institutional customer lost or a launch that slips by a quarter.
The underlying problem is that those decisions are taken far from the legal team, in product development, on the plant floor, in marketing or across the table from a retail buyer, and they reach counsel once they are hard to undo. That is why we keep the regulatory work before INVIMA, labelling, advertising, supply-chain contracts and the relationship with the end consumer inside one team: handled separately, they end up contradicting each other.
Where we work
- Health authorisations before INVIMA, for domestic and imported product, and their updating when the product changes.
- Review of the label, the nutrition panel, front-of-pack seals and claims, before printing.
- Advertising, promotions and campaigns with content creators.
- Co-manufacturing, co-packing, supply, distribution and retail contracts.
- Health inspections and product recall protocols.
- Trademarks, packaging and protection of formulas against third parties.
We act for manufacturers and co-packers, importers and distributors, brands launching their first product, restaurants and food service chains, and investors who need to measure a target company's compliance before closing. We do not promise approvals: we deliver well-built files, documents that say the same thing as one another, and an honest reading of the risk.
Services within this area
INVIMA health registration and notification for food and beverages
We classify the product, build the health file, submit it to INVIMA and answer information requests. Local and imported products. Bogotá, Colombia.
Learn more →Review of labelling, nutrition panels and front-of-pack warnings
We review the label before it goes to print: mandatory information, allergens, nutrition panel, front-of-pack seals and marketing claims that need support.
Learn more →Review of advertising, promotions and influencer campaigns
We review creative, promotions and influencer campaigns before launch: what can be claimed, with what evidence, and what to require from your agency.
Learn more →Toll manufacturing, co-packing and raw material supply contracts
We draft and negotiate co-packing and supply contracts: ownership of the formula, quality specs, non-conforming batches, pricing and an orderly exit.
Learn more →Health inspection readiness and product recall protocol
We prepare the plant and the paperwork before the visit, attend the inspection, answer requirements and leave a tested product recall protocol in place.
Learn more →Frequently asked questions
Do all foods and beverages require the same procedure before INVIMA? +
No. INVIMA handles different types of sanitary authorization depending on the product and its risk level, and identifying the right one is the first step of any launch. That decision drives the file, the technical information to be gathered and the schedule. We help classify the product and prepare the filing, without offering guarantees as to how the authority will decide.
What do you review on a label? +
We review general labeling, nutrition information, allergens, net content, identification of the responsible party, nutrition or health claims, and front-of-pack warning labeling. We also review marketing language that has to be supported, and we check that the label matches what was declared in the sanitary file. It is a joint review with the quality and marketing teams.
Is food advertising governed by different rules from other products? +
Two layers apply at the same time: the sanitary one, covering what may be claimed about the product, and consumer law, covering what is promised to the buyer. Third-party messaging, including content creators, and campaigns aimed at sensitive audiences add a further dimension. We clear material before publication and set the rules in agency and influencer contracts.
Which contracts tend to cause problems in the food and beverage chain? +
Co-manufacturing and co-packing agreements, when specifications, ownership of the formula or liability for defects are left undefined; supply agreements, when they ignore shortages and quality variation; and distribution and retail agreements, when exclusivity and payment terms pile up without anyone measuring the effect. We review them with the operation in mind, not just the template.
Does selling through delivery apps or marketplaces change my obligations to the consumer? +
Yes. It changes how responsibility is shared between the brand, the platform and the logistics operator, and it adds disclosure duties about the product, the total price and delivery times. It also changes how a complaint has to be handled. What matters is that the platform contract and the customer service policy say the same thing.
Do you work only with the legal team or also with quality and marketing? +
With all three. Compliance in this sector is decided in product development, on the plant floor and in campaigns, so we work alongside those teams and leave written rules they can apply without checking in every time.
Ready to protect what you've built?
Every case starts with an honest conversation. Book 30 minutes, no commitment.
Book →