What Has to Be on a Food Package: Required Label Elements

A packaged food sold in the US needs five things on the label, plus a Nutrition Facts panel unless you qualify for an exemption, and sometimes a country of origin. Two of them go on the front. The rest go on the front or together on the panel to the right of it.

If you sell under a state cottage food law, your state's list applies instead, and it can differ quite a bit: read more. To see everything placed on a real package, skip to the worked layout for a bag of cookies.

Which panels do the label items go on?

The front of the package is the "principal display panel." FDA's definition is the part of the label "most likely to be displayed, presented, shown, or examined" on a store shelf. If a package has two sides that could each face the shopper, both count as fronts and the front-panel items go on each.

The size of the front sets how big the net quantity has to be. Measure it as height times width for a rectangular face, or 40% of height times circumference for a jar or bottle, leaving out tops, bottoms, shoulders and necks.

The "information panel" is the part of the label immediately to the right of the front as you face it, or the next panel over if that part can't be used, such as a folded flap. On most bags and boxes, it is the back or a side.

FDA's rule for the information panel says the ingredient list, the name and address, the Nutrition Facts panel and the allergen statement go on the front or on that panel. A few rules come with it:

• Letters must be at least 1/16 inch tall, measured on the lowercase "o".
• The items appear together, "in one place without other intervening material." FDA's Food Labeling Guide gives the UPC barcode as an example of material that would come between them, because it "is not FDA required labeling." No federal rule requires a barcode, though a store or distributor can make one a condition of carrying your product.
• If everything doesn't fit on one panel, you can split it between the front and the information panel, but each item's information stays together.

What name goes on the front?

The front has to carry the name of the food "as one of its principal features." The official term is "statement of identity." FDA's rule on naming a food says to use the name a federal regulation requires if there is one, otherwise the common or usual name, otherwise a description of what the food is.

The name goes in bold type, in a size "reasonably related to the most prominent printed matter" on the front, in lines parallel to the base of the package. FDA's Food Labeling Guide says this generally means at least half the size of the largest print on the label, and that a brand name isn't the name of the food. "Corner Oven" on a bag of cookies is the brand. "Chocolate chip cookies" is the name of the food.

A flavor named or pictured on the label is the "characterizing flavor," and FDA's rule on flavor labeling puts it with the name of the food on the front. Name only flavors the product actually has.

What if your food has a legal definition, like jam?

Some foods have a "standard of identity," a federal recipe that a product has to meet to use that name. Under the misbranding section of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, a food sold under a standardized name that doesn't meet the standard is misbranded.

For example, the standard for jams and preserves says strawberry jam has to be made from at least 47 parts fruit to 55 parts sugar by weight, and the finished jam must be at least 65% soluble solids.

FDA says it is revoking, or proposing to revoke, 52 food standards, so check the current standard for your product before you print. Granola, cookies and hot sauce have no standard of identity.

How do you state how much is in the package?

The net quantity goes on the front, as a separate item in the bottom 30% of the panel, parallel to the base. On a front of 5 square inches or less, the bottom-30% rule doesn't apply. It needs clear space around it: above and below, at least the height of its own lettering; left and right, at least twice the width of a letter "N". It must be in bold type that contrasts with the rest of the package. These rules are in FDA's net quantity rule.

Weight or fluid ounces?

Solids, semisolids and thick foods are declared by weight, with "Net wt"; liquids by fluid measure. On packages under 4 pounds or 1 gallon, state the amount in ounces. From 1 pound up, add pounds in parentheses, as in "Net Wt 24 oz (1 lb 8 oz)". From 1 pint up, add the largest whole liquid unit, as in "32 fl oz (1 qt)".

Do you need grams as well as ounces?

Yes. FDA's net quantity rule still says a metric statement "may" appear, but the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requires both US and metric units on the front, except on random-weight packages (packages that each weigh a different amount and carry their own weight, like wedges of cheese) and foods packaged at the retail store. FDA's Food Labeling Guide follows the statute. Print both.

12 oz is 12 × 28.35 = 340.2 g, so a 12-ounce bag reads "Net Wt 12 oz (340 g)". A 5-fluid-ounce bottle is 5 × 29.57 = 147.9 mL: "5 fl oz (148 mL)".

How big does the net quantity have to be?

The minimum letter height depends on the area of the front panel. Measure the lowercase "o", or the capitals if you use only capitals. Letters can't be more than three times as tall as they are wide.

A hot sauce bottle 5.5 inches tall to the shoulder and 5.5 inches around has a front panel of 0.40 × 5.5 × 5.5 = 12.1 square inches, so it needs letters at least 1/8 inch tall.

What goes in the ingredient list?

Every ingredient, by its common or usual name, heaviest first by weight, under FDA's ingredient list rule. Ingredients at 2% or less by weight can go at the end, out of order, after a phrase such as "Contains 2% or less of". An ingredient with its own ingredients, such as chocolate chips, is declared by its name followed by its components in parentheses, or by listing each component in its own place in the main list. How to write an ingredient list covers names, order and sub-ingredients in more depth.

FDA's Food Labeling Guide puts the ingredient list on the same panel as the name and address of the business.

How do you declare allergens?

The nine major food allergens are milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soybeans and sesame, as defined in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Sesame has been required since January 1, 2023.

The law accepts either of two forms. One is a "Contains" line immediately after or next to the ingredient list, in type no smaller than the list: "Contains: milk, almonds." The other is the food source in parentheses after the ingredient, as in "whey (milk)". You can skip the parentheses when the ingredient's name already says the source ("wheat flour"), or when the source already appears elsewhere in the list. That second shortcut doesn't work if the word appears only inside the name of an ingredient that isn't itself an allergen: highly refined soybean oil is exempt from allergen labeling, so "soybean oil" in the list doesn't declare the soy in your lecithin. For tree nuts, fish and crustacean shellfish, you name the specific nut or species: "almonds", not "tree nuts". A Contains line is the easier one for shoppers to find. The post on the nine major allergens covers the rest.

Whose name and address go on the label?

The label gives the name and place of business of the company that made, packed or distributes the food, under FDA's rule on the business name: the corporate name, or the name the business operates under. If someone else makes the product for you, add "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by". The address includes street, city, state and ZIP code; the street can be left off if your business is listed in a current city or telephone directory.

Do you need a Nutrition Facts panel?

Many small producers don't, as long as nothing on the label, website or signs makes a nutrition claim; do I need a nutrition label? covers who qualifies. The exemption covers only the panel. Everything else in this post is still required. If you need a panel, making a Nutrition Facts label without a lab walks through the calculation and choosing a serving size covers the serving line.

When does a food need a country of origin?

When it is imported and reaches the shopper in more or less the form it came in. Federal customs law requires imported goods to be marked with the English name of their country of origin for the "ultimate purchaser" in the US, generally the last person in the US to receive the item in the form it was imported.

If you turn an imported ingredient into a different product, with a different name, character or use, you become that last buyer, and your finished product doesn't need the marking (Customs rule on goods changed by manufacture). If your processing is minor and leaves the imported item recognizable, the shopper is still the last buyer and the marking carries through to your package. The same goes for repacking an imported food for retail sale in the form it arrived in (Customs definitions).

Customs and Border Protection decides this case by case and issues binding rulings on request. In a 2013 ruling on roasted mixed nuts, it found that cleaning, dry-roasting and mixing nuts did not change them enough, so the bags had to name each nut's country of origin. Imported chocolate chips baked into cookies are likely changed enough, since the result has a different name, character and use. Imported cashews you roast, salt and bag are likely not. If your product sits near that line, ask CBP for a ruling.

When a US company's name and address appear on an imported food, FDA's Food Labeling Guide puts the country of origin close to them, in lettering at least comparable in size. Separately, USDA's country-of-origin rule requires suppliers to pass the origin of raw pecans, peanuts, macadamias and fresh produce along to the stores that sell them.

Worked layout: a 14-ounce bag of chocolate chip cookies

This uses the chocolate chip cookie batch from the pricing post, sold in bags of twelve. The batch is 5,075 g of dough: 1,350 g semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1,125 g all-purpose flour, 900 g butter, 660 g light brown sugar, 600 g sugar, 400 g eggs, 20 g kosher salt and 20 g baking soda. The bag is a flat stand-up pouch with a front 6 inches wide and 8 inches tall above the gusset. Its sides are seams, so the back is the information panel. The brand name, the address and the sub-ingredients in parentheses are examples; copy yours from the labels or spec sheets of the products you actually buy.

Front, 6 × 8 = 48 square inches

• Brand: Corner Oven, any size.
• Name of the food, in bold, at least half the size of the brand name if that is the largest print: Chocolate Chip Cookies.
• Net quantity, in bold, in the bottom 30%, lettering at least 3/16 inch tall (48 square inches falls in the 25 to 100 band): Net Wt 14 oz (397 g). 14 × 28.35 = 396.9 g, rounded to 397. Twelve cookies weigh about 420 g, but cookies vary and keep losing moisture, so declare a weight every bag still meets when you weigh finished bags, not the average.

Back (the information panel), in one block with nothing in between, type at least 1/16 inch

• Nutrition Facts panel, or nothing if you qualify for an exemption.
• Ingredient list, heaviest first. The chips, flour and butter each have their own ingredients, so those go in parentheses. Salt and baking soda are each 20 g, under 0.5% of the dough and still well under 2% after baking drives off some water, so they can go after a 2% phrase:

  Ingredients: Semi-sweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milkfat, soy lecithin, vanilla), enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), butter (cream, salt), brown sugar, sugar, eggs. Contains 2% or less of salt, baking soda.

• Allergen statement, right after the ingredients: Contains: Wheat, milk, egg, soy. Milk comes from the butter and the milkfat in the chips, and soy from the lecithin in the chips. If your chips declare different allergens, your Contains line changes with them.
• Name and place of business: Corner Oven Bakery, 123 Main St, Springfield, IL 62701.

Elsewhere on the back or the gusset: a UPC if a buyer wants one, and any best-by date or lot code you use, kept out of the required block.

If the chocolate chips were imported, the bag likely doesn't need a country of origin for them, for the reasons above.

Cottage food labels follow your state's list

Under a state cottage food law, your label follows the state's list, which can drop federal items or add its own. The Texas Department of State Health Services lists these for a cottage food production operation:

• the name of the operation;
• its address, or the identification number DSHS issues when the operation registers (added by SB 541, effective September 1, 2025);
• the common or usual name of the product;
• any major food allergen used, such as eggs, tree nuts, soy, peanuts, milk, wheat or sesame;
• the disclosure "THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION.";
• a unique number for each batch of pickled fruit or vegetables, fermented vegetable products, or plant-based acidified canned goods.

Foods that need time and temperature control for safety must carry the date made on the label, plus a safe handling statement in at least 12-point type, which can go on the label or on an invoice or receipt. Anything sold through a registered cottage food vendor must carry the date made. The list has no net quantity or full ingredient list, and the federal rules have no home-production disclosure. Check your own state's current rules.

This is general information about federal labeling rules, not legal advice. State law and your product can change the answer; check with your state agriculture or health department about anything you're unsure of.

KitchenSync is nutrition label and recipe costing software for small food businesses. It builds the Nutrition Facts panel from your recipe and flags likely allergens in your ingredients; the nutrition label generator page has the details. Market vendors packaging for a first store shelf can read what KitchenSync covers for that move.

Sources

• 21 CFR 101.1, Principal display panel of package form food, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 21 CFR 101.2, Information panel of package form food, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 21 CFR 101.3, Identity labeling of food in packaged form, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 21 CFR 101.4, Food; designation of ingredients, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 21 CFR 101.5, Food; name and place of business of manufacturer, packer, or distributor, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 21 CFR 101.7, Declaration of net quantity of contents, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 21 CFR 101.22, Foods; labeling of spices, flavorings, colorings and chemical preservatives, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 21 CFR 150.160, Fruit preserves and jams, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 19 CFR 134.1, Definitions (country of origin marking), Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 19 CFR 134.35, Articles substantially changed by manufacture, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 7 CFR 65.500, Recordkeeping requirements, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
• 21 U.S.C. 321, Definitions (major food allergen at (qq)), U.S. Government Publishing Office
• 21 U.S.C. 343, Misbranded food (FD&C Act section 403), U.S. Government Publishing Office
• 15 U.S.C. 1453, Requirements of labeling (Fair Packaging and Labeling Act), U.S. Government Publishing Office
• 19 U.S.C. 1304, Marking of imported articles and containers, U.S. Government Publishing Office
• Ruling N245508: Country of origin marking of roasted, mixed nuts (September 12, 2013), U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• A Food Labeling Guide: Guidance for Industry, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (chapter 3 question 7 on the barcode; chapter 4 questions 2, 3 and 11 on the name of the food and country of origin; chapter 5 question 3 on metric units; chapter 6 question 3 on the ingredient list panel)
• Standards of Identity for Food, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• The FASTER Act: Sesame Is the Ninth Major Food Allergen, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• Texas Cottage Food Production, Texas Department of State Health Services