Why the Label Matters More Than You Think

If you make chutney in a village kitchen, bake sourdough for a Saturday market, or pack sandwiches for a farm shop, you are a food business in the eyes of the law — and that means your labels need to do a proper job. The rules come from the Food Information Regulations 2014 across England, Wales and Scotland, with equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland, and they exist for one very good reason: so that someone with a serious allergy, an intolerance, or a religious or dietary need can pick up your product and make a safe, informed choice.

Get it right and labelling becomes a quiet asset. It builds trust, answers questions before they are asked, and keeps you on the right side of your local trading standards officer. Get it wrong and you risk recalls, fines, and a great deal of stress. The good news is that the requirements are more straightforward than they first appear, and they are entirely manageable at small-batch scale.

Dealing With the 14 Allergens

There are 14 allergens that must always be declared when they appear in your food, whether as an ingredient or as a processing aid that remains in the finished product. They are: celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, nuts (such as almond, hazelnut, walnut and cashew), peanuts, sesame, soya, and sulphur dioxide or sulphites above 10 mg per kilogram or litre.

For pre-packed food, these must appear in the ingredients list and be emphasised so they stand out clearly from the rest of the text. You can use bold, capitals, italics, underlining, or a contrasting colour — but it must be obvious. Rolling the word into a normal sentence is not enough.

If you make and pack food on the same premises where you sell it — a sandwich made and wrapped behind the counter, a slice of quiche boxed at the deli — that is "prepacked for direct sale", or PPDS. Since October 2021, PPDS items must carry a full ingredients list with allergens emphasised, plus the name of the food. A handwritten sticker saying "contains milk" no longer covers it.

Non-prepacked food, such as a loose slice of cake or a takeaway curry, can use a different route: allergen information must be available in writing or clearly signposted, with a written backup available on request. Many small producers simply put the same label on everything, which is the safest habit to build.

Building an Ingredients List the Right Way

Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight as they were at the point of manufacture, so your biggest ingredient comes first. If you make a tomato relish where tomatoes weigh more than everything else combined, tomatoes lead the list.

• Use the ingredient's legal name or a customary name that shoppers understand.
• Declare added water if it makes up more than 5% of the finished product.
• Break down compound ingredients — if your mayonnaise contains egg and mustard, both must appear.
• List additives by category and either name or E number, such as "preservative: potassium sorbate" or "preservative: E202".
• Give a quantitative ingredient declaration (QUID) when an ingredient appears in the product name or is emphasised on the pack. "Cheddar and chive scones" needs a percentage for both cheddar and chives.

Keep a written recipe sheet for every product, with weighed quantities. It makes ingredient order, QUID and allergen checks quick rather than guesswork.

Date Marks, Storage and the Difference That Matters

Choosing between a "use by" and a "best before" date is one of the most consequential decisions you will make. Use by dates are about safety. They apply to food that spoils quickly and could become unsafe, such as fresh dairy, cooked meats, fish and prepared salads. It is illegal to sell food after its use by date, and the date must be accompanied by storage conditions — for example, "Keep refrigerated below 5°C".

Best before dates are about quality: the food is still safe after them, just past its best. Use them for biscuits, jams, chutneys, dried goods and most ambient products. For shelf lives under three months, write the date as day, month and year in that order. Longer-life products can use "best before end" followed by the month and year.

Terms like "sell by" and "display until" are for staff, not shoppers, and should never be the only date a customer sees. Batch codes are also required unless the date mark alone identifies the batch clearly.

The Other Mandatory Particulars

Alongside ingredients and dates, most pre-packed foods need the name of the food, the net quantity in metric units, the name and address of the food business responsible, and any necessary storage or usage instructions. Country of origin must be shown where it is required — beef, veal, some other meats, fish, honey, olive oil and fresh produce all have their own rules — and never in a way that misleads.

Nutrition declarations are mandatory in most cases, but there are exemptions for foods supplied directly to the consumer or to local retailers by the producer, and for small quantities of certain products. Ask your trading standards team if you are unsure; they are usually happy to advise and the guidance is free.

Text size matters too. Mandatory information on packs with a surface area above 80 cm² needs an x-height of at least 1.2 mm, dropping to 0.9 mm on smaller packs. Squeezing the allergen line to fit is a false economy.

Practical Tips for Small-Batch Printing

Set up one master template with fixed fields for your business address, storage instructions and allergen block, then leave editable space for product name, ingredients, weight and date. Print on food-safe, grease-resistant stock where needed, and check that your printer can handle strong adhesive that survives a chilled display or a damp market table.

Always proof a label before a full run, and keep a copy of every version you have used. If a recipe changes — even a supplier's mayonnaise switching from sunflower to rapeseed oil — update the label, the date and your records together. Build in a final check at packing: right product, right label, right date. It takes seconds and it is the single best safeguard you have.