Formation Systems' Optiva Enables Businesses to Conform to FALCPA Compliance Laws; Optiva Helps Food and Beverage Companies Seamlessly Report Allergens on Labels.

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass. -- Formation Systems, a leading provider of product development solutions, today announced that its Optiva software enables food and beverage companies to easily and seamlessly comply with the U.S. Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA).

President George W. Bush signed FALCPA into law in August 2004 and goes into effect on January 1, 2006. The new law requires food processing and manufacturing companies to list on their packaging labels the eight most common food allergens that may be contained in a product. The allergens required to be reported are milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat. About 11 million Americans suffer from food allergies with an average of 250 people dying and another 30,000 requiring treatment each year.

"As the FALCPA deadline approaches, companies in the food industry are under increasing pressure to more accurately report the ingredients contained in their products," said Trent Landreth, CEO of Formation Systems. "Not fully complying with the law could result in costly recalls or, worse, the injury or death of a customer. Formation Systems has helped food and beverage companies such as Coca-Cola and Rich Products accurately and easily track and report ingredients with Optiva, our process product lifecycle management software."

Optiva manages the entire product development process, from concept to market, for process manufacturers, like those in the food and beverage, consumer packaged goods and specialty chemical industries. Optiva significantly reduces the time and cost of developing new products and the risk of launching non-compliant goods. The software provides unique functions that enable companies to meet FALCPA requirements including ingredient tracking down to the raw material level, automated allergen checks and automated generation of label content.

"Optiva automates the process of identifying food ingredients for not only those ingredients used internally, but also those used by our suppliers, allowing us to accurately reflect every ingredient on our product labels no matter their source," said Herb Rau, quality control director of Barber Foods. "Creating accurate ingredient and allergen information used to be a tedious process that took hours of manual work for each product, but Optiva now does it automatically, saving time and money while dramatically reducing the chance of errors. Utilizing the Optiva solution will make ongoing compliance with government regulations easier."

About Optiva

Optiva(R) is the premier product development software solution for the food and beverage, specialty chemical and consumer packaged goods industries. With Optiva, companies in over 40 countries are becoming more profitable by improving their ability to innovate. Optiva automates the entire product development process, enabling companies to create better products faster, at lower costs and with less regulatory risk.

About Formation Systems

Formation Systems' mission is to ensure a company's best ideas become the world's greatest products. Formation Systems customers include companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, Groupe Danone, Cadbury Schweppes plc, GE Plastics, Akzo Nobel, Kerry Group plc, Barber Foods, Rich Products, Parfums Christian Dior, Yves Rocher, RPM and The Valspar Corporation. Formation Systems' Optiva product development software and unique implementation approach offer customers high return, low risk and quick time to benefit. Founded in 1995, Formation Systems is privately held and headquartered in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information visit the corporate web site at www.formationsystems.com.