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Ingredients Label: What to Include

Ingredients labels list everything in your food by its common name, in descending order by weight. Ingredients made of other ingredients show their parts in parentheses, and any of the 9 major allergens must be named. Here are the rules, a worked example, and a free generator that writes the list from your recipe.

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Ingredients label close-up on a cookie bag, with sub-ingredients in parentheses and a Contains line below
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Your ingredient list, written for free

Enter your recipe once. We build the list and the Nutrition Facts together.

Sorted by weightCups and spoons converted to weight, so the order is right.
Label namesPlain names shoppers know, like "butter (cream, salt)".
Allergens flaggedMilk, egg, wheat, soy and the rest marked for you to confirm.
Contains lineWritten for you, naming the exact tree nut, fish or shellfish.
The rules

What a food label ingredients list needs

Six rules cover almost every product. The citations point to the federal rule.

01Heaviest ingredient firstList ingredients in descending order by weight in the finished recipe, not by volume.21 CFR 101.4(a)(1)
02Use the common nameCall each ingredient what people call it: "sugar", "eggs", "canola oil". Not a brand name.21 CFR 101.4(a)(1)
03Show sub-ingredientsAn ingredient made of other ingredients lists them in parentheses: "chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin)".21 CFR 101.4(b)(2)
042 percent or lessSmall ingredients may go at the end in any order, after a phrase like "Contains 2% or less of".21 CFR 101.4(a)(2)
05Spices and flavorsSpices may be listed as "spice" and flavors as "natural flavor" or "artificial flavor".21 CFR 101.22(h)(1)
06Name the major allergensDeclare milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame, in the list or a "Contains" line.FD&C Act 403(w)
Example

A chocolate chip cookie ingredient label

One batch: 2 1/4 cups flour (10 oz), 1 cup butter (8 oz), 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips (7 oz), 3/4 cup brown sugar (5.8 oz), 1/2 cup sugar (3.5 oz), 2 eggs (3.5 oz), plus vanilla, baking soda and salt.

IngredientsEnriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), butter (cream, salt), semisweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milkfat, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), brown sugar, sugar, eggs. Contains 2% or less of: vanilla extract, baking soda, salt.
AllergensContains: Wheat, Milk, Soy, Egg.
Why it reads this wayFlour weighs the most, so it leads. Butter beats the chips by weight even though the chips fill more cups. The three smallest ingredients sit after the 2% phrase.
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Questions

Ingredient label questions

Something else? Send us a question. We reply by email as soon as we can.

On the front panel or on the information panel, which is the panel just to the right of the front. Most brands put it next to the Nutrition Facts.

Keep reading

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