[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":375},["ShallowReactive",2],{"guides-index":3},[4,71,247,276,311,345],{"id":5,"title":6,"blurb":7,"body":8,"category":57,"citation":58,"date":59,"description":60,"extension":61,"featured":62,"icon":63,"meta":64,"navigation":65,"path":66,"readingTime":67,"seo":68,"stem":69,"__hash__":70},"guides\u002Fguides\u002Fallergen-labeling.md","Allergen labeling — the 9 major allergens, declared correctly","The 9 major allergens and how to declare them correctly.",{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":53},"minimark",[11,20,27,35,50],[12,13,14,15,19],"p",{},"U.S. law recognizes nine major food allergens that must be disclosed\nby name whenever they, or an ingredient derived from them, appear in a\nproduct: ",[16,17,18],"strong",{},"milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat,\nsoybeans, and sesame"," — sesame was added most recently, by the FASTER\nAct, effective January 2023. Declaring an allergen isn't optional or\nscaled by business size the way the Nutrition Facts panel can be; it\napplies to every packaged food that contains one of the nine,\nregardless of how small the seller is.",[12,21,22,23,26],{},"There are two accepted ways to disclose an allergen: naming the source\ndirectly in the ingredient list itself (e.g., \"whey (milk)\"), or\ncollecting all of them into a single \"",[16,24,25],{},"Contains:"," milk, wheat, soy\"\nstatement immediately after the ingredient list. Most sellers use the\n\"Contains\" statement because it's easier for a customer scanning the\npackage to find at a glance, and it's what CompliantLabel's builder\nauto-suggests likely allergens from your ingredient list — you review and confirm each one before it appears on your label.",[12,28,29,30,34],{},"What the nine-allergen rule does ",[31,32,33],"em",{},"not"," cover is voluntary \"may contain\"\nor cross-contact advisory language — that's a separate, non-mandatory\ndisclosure many manufacturers add anyway when they share equipment or\na facility with allergen-containing products.",[12,36,37,38,41,42,45,46,49],{},"Three of the nine can't be declared by the broad category name alone.\nFDA's FALCPA guidance requires naming the specific species for ",[16,39,40],{},"tree\nnuts",", ",[16,43,44],{},"fish",", and ",[16,47,48],{},"crustacean shellfish"," — \"Contains: almonds,\"\nnot \"Contains: tree nuts\"; \"Contains: cod,\" not \"Contains: fish.\"\nCompliantLabel's builder asks for the species as soon as you declare\none of these three, and won't let an export go out with the broad\ncategory standing in for it.",[12,51,52],{},"A full walkthrough — gluten-free label interactions and how \"may\ncontain\" advisories are regulated differently from the mandatory\ndeclaration — is coming soon to this guide.",{"title":54,"searchDepth":55,"depth":55,"links":56},"",2,[],"Allergen labeling","Reviewed against the FASTER Act (2021) and FALCPA","2026-07-21","What FALCPA and the FASTER Act require for allergen declarations, the \"Contains\" statement format, and cross-contact disclosure.","md",false,"triangle-alert",{},true,"\u002Fguides\u002Fallergen-labeling","4 min read",{"title":6,"description":60},"guides\u002Fallergen-labeling","91p0irCYyOJ1hK-o0eCQ4ZOQY2pvftX9T409zm6fbAE",{"id":72,"title":73,"blurb":74,"body":75,"category":237,"citation":238,"date":59,"description":239,"extension":61,"featured":65,"icon":240,"meta":241,"navigation":65,"path":242,"readingTime":243,"seo":244,"stem":245,"__hash__":246},"guides\u002Fguides\u002Fdo-i-need-a-nutrition-facts-label.md","Do I need a Nutrition Facts label to sell my food product?","When labeling is legally required, who qualifies for the small-business exemption, and exactly what has to appear on the package.",{"type":9,"value":76,"toc":231},[77,84,89,92,114,120,124,127,162,177,182,186,189,221,224,228],[12,78,79,80,83],{},"If you're packaging food to sell to the public — at a shop, at a farmers\nmarket with a shelf-stable product, wholesale to a store, or online —\nthe short answer is almost always ",[16,81,82],{},"yes",". Federal law requires most\npackaged foods to carry a Nutrition Facts panel, a complete ingredient\nstatement, and an allergen declaration before they can be offered for\nsale. The exemptions are real, but they're narrower than most new\nsellers expect, and a few common assumptions about \"small batch\" or\n\"homemade\" don't actually hold up under the regulation.",[85,86,88],"h2",{"id":87},"when-a-label-is-required","When a label is required",[12,90,91],{},"Any food in a sealed package offered for retail sale generally needs\nfull nutrition labeling under FDA rules (21 CFR 101.9). That covers\njams, sauces, baked goods, snacks, sauces, and spice blends — anything\nsold in a container the customer takes home, regardless of channel.",[93,94,95,102,108],"ul",{},[96,97,98,101],"li",{},[16,99,100],{},"Retail"," (farmers market, your own storefront, a pop-up): if the\nproduct is pre-packaged before the point of sale, it needs a label.\nFood scooped or weighed to order in front of the customer is\ngenerally treated differently — see the note below.",[96,103,104,107],{},[16,105,106],{},"Wholesale"," (selling into a grocery store, co-op, or specialty\nshop): the store's buyer will almost always require a compliant\nlabel before they'll accept the product, independent of whether FDA\nwould otherwise require one for your specific volume.",[96,109,110,113],{},[16,111,112],{},"Online \u002F marketplace"," (your own site, Etsy, Amazon): platforms\nincreasingly require a label image or PDF at listing time, and\ninterstate shipping puts you squarely under federal jurisdiction\nrather than a single state's cottage-food rules.",[115,116,117],"blockquote",{},[12,118,119],{},"Selling the same cookies loose at a bake sale is different from\nselling them in a sealed bag on a shelf. The package is what triggers\nthe labeling requirement — not the recipe, the kitchen, or the size\nof the business.",[85,121,123],{"id":122},"the-small-business-exemption","The small-business exemption",[12,125,126],{},"Some small businesses do qualify for an exemption from the Nutrition\nFacts panel requirement, but it's two distinct, narrow exemptions —\nnot a general \"small batch\" carve-out — and each has its own\nthreshold:",[128,129,130,144],"ol",{},[96,131,132,135,136,139,140,143],{},[16,133,134],{},"Retailer gross-sales exemption"," (21 CFR 101.9(j)(1)): a person\nor business with total annual gross sales of ",[16,137,138],{},"not more than\n$500,000",", or with annual gross sales of food to consumers of\n",[16,141,142],{},"not more than $50,000",", doesn't have to provide nutrition\nlabeling for the foods they sell. No notice to FDA is required to\nclaim this one.",[96,145,146,149,150,153,154,157,158,161],{},[16,147,148],{},"Low-volume product exemption"," (21 CFR 101.9(j)(18)): a product\nsold in fewer than ",[16,151,152],{},"100,000 units"," in the U.S. in a 12-month\nperiod, made by a business with fewer than ",[16,155,156],{},"100 full-time\nequivalent employees",", can be exempted product-by-product — but\nonly if you ",[16,159,160],{},"file an annual notice with FDA"," claiming the\nexemption, with a responsible individual certifying the numbers.",[12,163,164,165,168,169,172,173,176],{},"Both exemptions disappear the instant you make a ",[16,166,167],{},"nutrient content\nclaim"," (like \"low fat\" or \"high fiber\") or a ",[16,170,171],{},"health claim"," on the\npackage — at that point full nutrition labeling is required regardless\nof size. And neither exemption touches the ",[31,174,175],{},"other"," mandatory\ninformation: product name, net quantity of contents, ingredient list,\nallergen declaration, and manufacturer name and address are still\nrequired no matter how small the business is. In practice, most\nsellers who plan to sell beyond a single farmers-market table, or who\nexpect to grow, choose to label from day one rather than track two\nseparate thresholds and refile a notice every year.",[178,179],"guide-cta",{"body":180,"heading":181},"Build a real, FDA-format Nutrition Facts panel free — no card required.","Ready to make your label?",[85,183,185],{"id":184},"what-a-compliant-label-needs","What a compliant label needs",[12,187,188],{},"At minimum, a compliant package carries:",[93,190,191,197,203,209,215],{},[96,192,193,196],{},[16,194,195],{},"Nutrition Facts panel"," in the 2016 format (21 CFR 101.9) — calories,\nserving size based on FDA's reference amounts, and the full nutrient\nlist with %DV.",[96,198,199,202],{},[16,200,201],{},"Ingredient statement",", listed in descending order by weight,\nincluding sub-ingredients of any component ingredient.",[96,204,205,208],{},[16,206,207],{},"Allergen \"Contains\" declaration"," covering the nine major\nallergens: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat,\nsoybeans, and sesame.",[96,210,211,214],{},[16,212,213],{},"Net quantity of contents"," in both metric and U.S. customary units.",[96,216,217,220],{},[16,218,219],{},"Business name and address"," of the manufacturer, packer, or\ndistributor.",[12,222,223],{},"The Nutrition Facts panel itself is the most regulated piece — its\nfonts, rule weights, and row order are fixed by the CFR, not a design\nchoice — so it's worth generating it from your actual ingredient list\nand serving size rather than approximating one in a design tool.",[85,225,227],{"id":226},"how-to-make-yours","How to make yours",[12,229,230],{},"Start from your ingredient list with real gram weights per serving,\nnot volume measures — nutrition math is done by weight. From there you\nneed the per-ingredient nutrient data (USDA's FoodData Central is the\nstandard free source), a defined serving size, and your declared\nallergens. CompliantLabel's builder does the USDA lookup, the %DV\nmath, and the FDA-format rendering for you, and lets you preview the\nexact label — watermarked — before you ever create an account.",{"title":54,"searchDepth":55,"depth":55,"links":232},[233,234,235,236],{"id":87,"depth":55,"text":88},{"id":122,"depth":55,"text":123},{"id":184,"depth":55,"text":185},{"id":226,"depth":55,"text":227},"Compliance basics","Reviewed against 21 CFR 101.9","Who has to carry a Nutrition Facts panel, the real FDA small-business exemption thresholds, and what retail, wholesale, and online sellers each need on the package.","file-check",{},"\u002Fguides\u002Fdo-i-need-a-nutrition-facts-label","6 min read",{"title":73,"description":239},"guides\u002Fdo-i-need-a-nutrition-facts-label","V1bH0jVGMpvO53xY3FxFCvXxa_780sDJxkcaQBznO_c",{"id":248,"title":249,"blurb":250,"body":251,"category":268,"citation":269,"date":59,"description":270,"extension":61,"featured":62,"icon":240,"meta":271,"navigation":65,"path":272,"readingTime":67,"seo":273,"stem":274,"__hash__":275},"guides\u002Fguides\u002Fingredient-statements.md","How to write a compliant ingredient statement","Listing in descending order by weight, sub-ingredients and all.",{"type":9,"value":252,"toc":266},[253,260,263],[12,254,255,256,259],{},"The ingredient statement looks like the simplest part of the label and\nis one of the most commonly wrong. The core rule (21 CFR 101.4) is\nstrict: every ingredient is listed in ",[16,257,258],{},"descending order by weight"," as\nit exists at the point it's added to the recipe — not by volume, not\nby how it appears in your recipe card, and not grouped by category.\nWater added during preparation counts as an ingredient and gets listed\nby its own weight, even if it evaporates or is absorbed before the\nfinal product ships.",[12,261,262],{},"Compound ingredients — an ingredient that is itself made of multiple\ningredients, like a chocolate chip or a seasoning blend — generally\nneed their own sub-ingredients declared in parentheses immediately\nafter the compound ingredient's name, in the same descending-by-weight\norder. This is the step most home-scale sellers miss: buying a\npre-made ingredient doesn't remove the obligation to disclose what's\nin it, and skipping the parenthetical is one of the most common reasons\na retail buyer or Amazon listing gets rejected on label review.",[12,264,265],{},"A full walkthrough — common naming pitfalls (\"spices\" vs. naming each\none, when \"natural flavor\" is and isn't acceptable, water and\nby-weight edge cases) — is coming soon to this guide.",{"title":54,"searchDepth":55,"depth":55,"links":267},[],"Ingredient statements","Reviewed against 21 CFR 101.4","Descending order by weight, sub-ingredients in parentheses, and the naming rules FDA actually enforces for ingredient lists.",{},"\u002Fguides\u002Fingredient-statements",{"title":249,"description":270},"guides\u002Fingredient-statements","XDWqzYMlmZIZzvZ9I1BIFPHCVlaqzDiLoJmpCvXS_uM",{"id":277,"title":278,"blurb":279,"body":280,"category":301,"citation":302,"date":59,"description":303,"extension":61,"featured":62,"icon":304,"meta":305,"navigation":65,"path":306,"readingTime":307,"seo":308,"stem":309,"__hash__":310},"guides\u002Fguides\u002Flabel-format-guide.md","Label format — layout, type size, and placement rules","What's fixed by regulation on the panel versus what you design.",{"type":9,"value":281,"toc":299},[282,289,296],[12,283,284,285,288],{},"A food label has two very different kinds of rules: the Nutrition\nFacts panel itself, which is fixed almost down to the point size and\nrule weight by 21 CFR 101.9(d), and everything else on the package,\nwhich is regulated for ",[31,286,287],{},"content"," (what must appear) but not exact\nlayout. Knowing which is which saves a lot of back-and-forth with a\nprinter or a marketplace's label reviewer.",[12,290,291,292,295],{},"The Nutrition Facts panel's type sizes have real floors — the title\n\"Nutrition Facts\" and the calorie count have the largest minimum type\nsize on the panel, with the nutrient rows scaled down from there — and\nits column order, rule placement, and bolding are not a design choice.\nThe ",[16,293,294],{},"principal display panel"," (the front-of-pack \"face\" a customer\nsees on a shelf), by contrast, has required content — product\nidentity\u002Fstatement of identity and net quantity of contents both need\nto appear there — but real layout freedom in font, color, and imagery\naround that content.",[12,297,298],{},"A full walkthrough — the exact type-size floors by package size, where\nthe Nutrition Facts panel is allowed to go on smaller packages, and\nprincipal-display-panel placement rules — is coming soon to this guide.",{"title":54,"searchDepth":55,"depth":55,"links":300},[],"Label format","Reviewed against 21 CFR 101.9(d) and 101.1-101.2","What's actually fixed by regulation on a food label (the Nutrition Facts panel's format) versus what you control (packaging layout, principal display panel).","clipboard-list",{},"\u002Fguides\u002Flabel-format-guide","3 min read",{"title":278,"description":303},"guides\u002Flabel-format-guide","Hjk0JYoOdyIWshZZCULtBtv1q5NOCeEUm9GSIYYjg3I",{"id":312,"title":313,"blurb":314,"body":315,"category":336,"citation":337,"date":59,"description":338,"extension":61,"featured":62,"icon":339,"meta":340,"navigation":65,"path":341,"readingTime":307,"seo":342,"stem":343,"__hash__":344},"guides\u002Fguides\u002Fserving-size-guide.md","How FDA's reference amounts (RACC) decide your serving size","How FDA's reference amounts decide your serving size.",{"type":9,"value":316,"toc":334},[317,324,331],[12,318,319,320,323],{},"The most common mistake on a first-time label isn't a math error — it's\npicking the serving size by feel instead of by rule. FDA sets a\n",[16,321,322],{},"Reference Amount Customarily Consumed"," (RACC) for dozens of food\ncategories (21 CFR 101.12), and your Nutrition Facts panel's serving\nsize has to be based on that RACC, converted into a realistic household\nmeasure for your specific product, not on how much you personally think\na serving \"should\" be.",[12,325,326,327,330],{},"In practice this means two products in the same category — say, two\ndifferent granola bars — should land on comparable serving sizes even\nif their recipes and portioning are totally different, because both are\nanchored to the same RACC for that food category rather than to the\nmaker's own packaging choice. Choosing a RACC-based serving size\ncorrectly also determines your ",[16,328,329],{},"servings per container",", which\nflows directly into total calories and every %DV figure on the panel.",[12,332,333],{},"A full walkthrough — how to find the right RACC category for your\nproduct, converting gram RACCs into household measures, and what\nchanges when a package is a single-serving container — is coming soon\nto this guide.",{"title":54,"searchDepth":55,"depth":55,"links":335},[],"Serving sizes","Reviewed against 21 CFR 101.12","Serving size isn't your recipe's portion — it's set by FDA's Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed for your product's category.","ruler",{},"\u002Fguides\u002Fserving-size-guide",{"title":313,"description":338},"guides\u002Fserving-size-guide","-I167ruAFFv5Ort0AkSRfoRza6gQqkeNt52EKNh_52g",{"id":346,"title":347,"blurb":348,"body":349,"category":366,"citation":367,"date":59,"description":368,"extension":61,"featured":62,"icon":369,"meta":370,"navigation":65,"path":371,"readingTime":67,"seo":372,"stem":373,"__hash__":374},"guides\u002Fguides\u002Fstate-cottage-food-requirements.md","Cottage-food laws and labeling requirements by state","Cottage-food laws and labeling rules for all 50 states.",{"type":9,"value":350,"toc":364},[351,358,361],[12,352,353,354,357],{},"Every state runs its own cottage-food law — the rules that let home\nkitchens sell certain low-risk foods (jams, baked goods, dry mixes,\nsome candies) without a commercial kitchen license. What almost none\nof them do is exempt you from ",[31,355,356],{},"labeling"," entirely: nearly every state\ncottage-food law requires, at minimum, a \"made in a home kitchen not\nsubject to state inspection\" disclosure, the producer's name and\naddress, and an ingredient list, even when the state doesn't require\nthe full federal Nutrition Facts panel.",[12,359,360],{},"Where states differ most is sales channel and revenue caps: some allow\nonline sales and shipping, others require in-person, in-state sales\nonly; annual revenue limits range from no cap at all up to roughly\n$50,000–$75,000 in the stricter states. Cross a state line, sell\nthrough a national online marketplace, or exceed your state's cap, and\nyou're generally out of cottage-food territory and into standard\nfederal food-labeling rules — the same Nutrition Facts panel, allergen\ndeclaration, and ingredient statement any other packaged-food seller\nneeds.",[12,362,363],{},"A full state-by-state breakdown — allowed products, revenue caps,\nrequired disclosures, and the exact point each state's rules hand off\nto federal labeling — is coming soon to this guide.",{"title":54,"searchDepth":55,"depth":55,"links":365},[],"State requirements","State laws vary — federal rules apply once you cross state lines","What cottage-food and home-kitchen producers need on the label in their state — and when a homemade product graduates to full federal nutrition labeling.","scale",{},"\u002Fguides\u002Fstate-cottage-food-requirements",{"title":347,"description":368},"guides\u002Fstate-cottage-food-requirements","qR5Jn_RkpPpndFmVQKgpXhetFcErFQzI1te1EXdizJk",1786054274083]