FOOD SAFETY
AND LABELING.

Reference

Food carries obligations that attach before a single unit sells: facility registration, traceability, and a label that is legally a specification rather than packaging design. The label is where most small producers get stopped, because it is checked and it is specific.

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What to know

The label is a legal document

Ingredient order, allergen declaration, net quantity, nutrition panel, and the name and address of a responsible party are all mandated with specific formats. Getting one wrong means a reprint at best and a recall at worst.

Ingredients in descending order by weight, with no exceptions
Allergens declared exactly as the jurisdiction requires
Nutrition format differs between the US, EU and elsewhere
Country of origin where required for the category

Registration before selling

Most jurisdictions require the facility that makes or handles the food to be registered, including foreign facilities exporting in. It is a prerequisite, not a formality, and it cannot be arranged retroactively.

Traceability is one step each way

The common standard is knowing your immediate supplier and your immediate customer for every lot. That is what makes a recall bounded instead of total — the brands that cannot trace a lot recall everything.

Retailers ask for more than the law

Major grocers require third-party audit certification — BRC, SQF, FSSC 22000 — beyond any legal minimum. Getting certified takes months and cannot be started when the buyer asks.

Where to go next

ALLERGEN DECLARATION.

Allergen labeling is the highest-consequence text on a food package.

Read it

CERTIFICATIONS AND WHAT THEY UNLOCK.

A certification is a third party attesting to something a buyer cannot verify themselves.

Read it

NUTRITION FACTS

A free tool — it works in your browser, no account needed.

Use it

ALLERGEN DECLARATION

A free tool — it works in your browser, no account needed.