Requirements for food labels
| Site: | Plattform für Weiterbildung und Internationalisierung der Hochschule Weihenstephan-Triesdorf |
| Course: | Entrepreneurship in Food |
| Book: | Requirements for food labels |
| Printed by: | Gast |
| Date: | Monday, 30 March 2026, 12:29 PM |
Description
1. Regulations and standards
Labels on packaged food have to follow certain regulations and standards. These regulations and standards however, are different for each country, although all follow more or less the Codex Alimentarius, which is a guideline for global standardization. In accordance with food laws, labels must tell the truth and manufacturers must not represent foods in a false, misleading or deceptive way.
The label must be clear and easy to read, permanent, easy to understand, easily visible, and not misleading.
To be internationally acceptable, the label must include the following information:
Food package labels must include a name or a description of the food. This name or description should be clear enough so you can tell it apart from other foods. If there is a prescribed name for the food in the Food Standards Code this must be included on the label. If there is no prescribed name for a food, the label must include a name or description that clearly states the true nature of the food.
The 'Best Before' or 'use by/Expiry' date
Net quantity information (more details can be found here)
Business name and address (mandatory in most countries
Any necessary warnings (e.g. allergens in bold letters, additives that may have a harmful impact, like Aspartame: ‘Contains a source of phenylalanine’, or special storage conditions and/or conditions of or instructions for use.
The country or place of origin, usually required for products sold in retail settings, and mandatory for export. It is also often required if the name of the product implies a certain place of origin, but it is produced in another country or a main ingredient is imported from another country than indicated in the name. E.g. if the name is 'German Rye Bread' but it was baked in Kenya, or the name is 'Uganda Coffee' but it is mixed with coffee beans from Ethiopia and Kenya.
The lot number, important for batch identification in re-call scenarios (in smaller production can be replaced by the production/manufacturing date)
Nutritional information or quantity of certain categories of ingredients (salt, saturated fats, sugar). If your product claims to be gluten free the nutrition panel must include the line 'gluten less than 3ppm'. If your product claims to be rich in Vit.C e.g this needs to be quantified in the nutrition panel. Regulations vary from country to country and you should inform yourself before entering a certain market. Nutritional information may also have to include the serving size and percentage of daily value.
In case of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of above 1,2 % by volume of alcohol, the actual alcoholic strength by volume has to be declared.
2. Best before date vs use by (expiry) date
2.1. Examples: date information on food products
"Best Before" or " Best if Used By" date indicates until when a product will be of best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date. Even after the date it will be safe to consume for some time.
"Sell-By" date tells the store how long to display the product for sale for inventory management. It is not a safety date.
“Use-By" or “Expiry date” or "EXP" is the date after which the food will not have the quality and safety attributes normally expected by the consumers and the food shall not be sold or consumed.
"Date of manufacture” or "Manufacturing Date" or "Mfg. Date" or "Mfd." or even "PROD" means the date on which the food product was produced. In some cases the consumer must calculate the expiry date.
“Date of packaging” means the date on which the food is placed in the retail packaging. This can be different from date of manufacture, if the product is first stored in bulk packaging and only repackaged before shipping or sale.
3. Nutritional information
Nutritional facts of prepackaged foods must be labelled according to regulatory standards. Falsely labeling nutritional information is illegal. To determine the nutrional information for your product, you may use a publicly available calculator, or you can send a product sample to a lab.
Some categories of products like salt, tea and vinegar don’t need a nutrition panel.
Nutritional information must at least display the quantity of certain categories of
ingredients, like salt, saturated fats, sugar. European
Union regulations require that you declare energy, protein, fat,
saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars, and salt. Voluntary nutrients may
be shown if they are present in significant amounts.
If your product claims to be gluten free the nutrition panel
must include the line 'gluten less than 3ppm'. If your product claims
to be rich in Vit.C e.g this needs to be quantified in the nutrition
panel.
Color-coded nutritional information tells consumers if the food is high, medium or low in fat, saturated fats, sugars and salt (red = high, yellow = medium, green = low). If your product is low in all of these, you may use this kind of display on your label to attract health-conscious customers).
Regulations vary from
country to country and you should inform yourself before entering a
certain market. The way nutritional information has to be displayed and the wording used is often mandatory and can be very different. It is important to use the correct version to be compliant with legal requirements in certain regions. Nutritional information may also have to include the
serving size and percentage of daily value.
A: Australasian compliant Nutrition Information panel B: America compliant Nutrition Facts panel
C: EU-compliant Nutrition Information
4. Ingredient list
The ingredient list is in most cases displayed on the side of the product, above, below, or beside the nutritional information.
Within an ingredients list, all ingredients must be listed in descending order of ingoing weight. However, in many countries, if an ingredient makes up less than 5% of the food, it does not have to be listed. Some ingredients used in foods are called ‘compound ingredients’. These are ingredients made by a mixture of other ingredients. For example, chocolate (cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar) or pasta (flour, egg, water) unless the compound ingredient makes up less than 5% of the product, then it can just be listed as the compound ingredient rather than all of its own ingredients. This 5% rule does not apply to any additive or allergen, including if they are part of a compound ingredient – these must be listed no matter how small the amount.
Water usually must be declared as an ingredient if it makes up 5% or more of the finished product. However, this doesn’t apply to water that is intended to be drained away such as corn in brine, or if water has been used to rehydrate a dried or powdered ingredient in the product.
Allergens are marked in bold letters.
Many customers nowadays want to lower their intake of saturated fats, salt, and sugar. To "hide" these, manufacturers can list the different ingredients used in the product, instead of labeling these as fats, sugars and salt:
4.1. Allergens
Allergens are proteins that can cause an adverse immune response in people with allergies, and the presence of allergens in food can lead to serious health risks. Controlling the presence of allergens in food products ensures that products are safe for consumption by individuals with food allergies. This is typically done through allergen control programs, allergen testing, ingredient verification, process segregation, and use of allergen-free processing lines.
In case that known allergens are present in a food product, these have to be printed in bold letters on the ingredient list.
The 14 Food allergens are:
Image source: https://nexustac.com/new-codex-code-of-practice-on-food-allergen-management-an-overview/
Celery
This includes celery stalks, leaves, spice and celery salt. It is often found in salads, some meat products, soups and stock cubes. People with a celery allergy also need to avoid celeriac, as they are varieties of the same species. n included.
Gluten
Gluten is the name of a family of proteins found in wheat, barley, rye and oats. It is often found in foods containing flour and therefore bread, baked goods, cereals and pasta. It can also be found in barley-based products such as beer, malt, malt vinegar and food colouring.
Crustaceans
These include crabs, lobsters, prawns, crabs and scampi. They are
invertebrates and have segmented bodies and jointed legs. They are often
found in shrimp paste used for curries. Around 60% of people with a
shellfish allergy experience their first symptoms as adults. This
allergy can be suffered even without eating. The proteins in shellfish
can be transmitted through the air when fish is cooked. As this allergy
can be severe in many, it is especially important for sufferers to be
careful.
Eggs
These are often found in cakes, some meat products, mayonnaise, mousses, pasta, quiche and food brushed with egg. Egg allergy is one of the most common foods to trigger allergic symptoms in babies and young children, however most children outgrow the allergy. Egg allergy can occasionally develop later in life. Reactions to egg are usually triggered by the protein part of the egg, mainly the white or albumen. Having another type of allergy increases the risk. Eggs do not have to be eaten to cause a reaction, and coming into contact with eggshells or raw egg may trigger a reaction in sensitive individuals.
Fish
Often found in fish sauces, pizzas, relishes, salad dressings and stock cubes. Fish and shellfish allergies are one of the most common allergies in adults, and can develop at any point in life with no previous symptoms experienced when eating fish. Although treated as separate allergies, a fish, crustacean or mollusc allergy increases the risk of having another of these three.
Lupin
This includes lupin seeds and flour and can be found in some types of bread, pastries and pasta. Sometimes called lupine, it is a legume belonging to the same family as peanuts. It is frequently consumed in the Mediterranean, especially in the form of lupin flour. Lupin beans are eaten whole after boiling and drying as a snack in many countries.
Milk
This is found in butter,
cheese, cream, milk powders, yoghurt and
foods glazed with milk. Cow’s milk allergy affects around 3-6% of
infants and young children, while some people might tolerate goat,
ewe's (sheep) or camel milk. The allergy can be caused by the enzyme
lactose or the milk protein.
Molluscs
These include mussels, land snails, squid and whelks. They are often found in oyster sauce or as an ingredient in fish stews. Molluscs are soft bodied invertebrates, with some having a shell. Those that have a shell which opens and closes are called bivalve molluscs such as oysters and clams.
Mustard
This includes mustard powder, liquid mustard and mustard seeds. It is often found in breads, curries, marinades, meat products, salad dressing, sauces and soups. Because it is often hidden as an ingredient it is important to note it may not be obvious by sight, smell or taste. Mustard seeds are produced by the mustard plant, a member of the Brassica family. The seeds vary in colour and are frequently ground down to use in cooking. Mustard allergy is more common in countries where it forms a larger part of the cuisine and affects affects more often persons with hay fever.
Nuts
These include almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecan nuts, Brazil nuts, pistachio nuts, macadamia or Queensland nuts. They can be found in breads, biscuits, crackers, desserts, ice cream, marzipan, nut oils and sauces. Ground, crushed or flaked almonds are often used in Asian cooking. Those with a peanut allergy have a an increased likelihood of developing a tree nut or sesame seed allergy as they have similar proteins.
Peanuts
These can be found in biscuits, cakes, curries, desserts and
sauces. They are also in groundnut oil and peanut flour.
Peanuts are a legume and different from tree nuts, but they have
proteins that are similar.
Signs and symptoms of a peanut allergy can occur within minutes of
contact. Because of the often
severe reaction to a peanut allergy, it is vital to check ingredient
lists.
Sesame seeds
These can be found in bread, bread sticks, as a garnish, in hummus, sesame oil and tahini (sesame paste). Sesame allergy is becoming increasingly common, due to increased consumption. Sesame is known as Benne, Gingelly, Till or Teel, Simsim or Anjonjoli on foreign products. Many people with a mild allergy to sesame are able to eat buns coated with sesame seeds because the protein causing the allergy is only released when the seed is squashed or broken.
Sulphur dioxide
Sulphites are preservatives, used in dried fruit, meat products
and vegetables as well as in wine and beer. Sulphites can cause allergy-like symptoms in people with
underlying conditions such as asthma.
Soya
This can be found in bean curd, edamame seeds, miso paste, soya
protein, soya flour, tofu and a very wide range of processed foods. It
is often used in some desserts, ice cream, meat products, sauces and in
vegetarian products. Soya is widely used in
food manufacture and is difficult to avoid with as much as 60% of
manufactured foods containing soya. In the UK the Food
Standards Agency advises that refined soya oil (the main ingredient of
many vegetable oils) should be safe for most people because the proteins that
cause the allergy are removed during the refining process.
Source: https://cpdonline.co.uk/knowledge-base/food-hygiene/14-food-allergens/
5. Other informational labels
Labels carry often more information than the bare regulatory requirements. Examples can be found in this slideshow:
6. Food Labels as branding tools
The label or print on the packaging for a food product is a place where not only mandatory information is communicated. The label can also be used to communicate certain messages about the quality of the product, the production process, the origin of the ingredients, or even the lifestyle message that the producer wants to convey to the consumer.
Example: Food products with a characterising
ingredient like peanut
butter for example may state the percentage of this ingredient (85% peanuts or 100% peanuts) as a quality statement.
Watch the slide show below for more beautiful examples for use of labels as a branding tool. Hover over the images for a description: