Nutrition Labels 101

Whether you’ve come up with a delicious new hot sauce recipe or you’re selling packaged snacks, leveraging an accurate and durable nutrition label design is crucial. Represent your brand with accuracy and style, while meeting legal requirements and customer expectations by creating an excellent nutrition label for your product. 

Importance of Nutrition Labels

Creating nutrition labels that are easy to understand and remain legible over time is crucial for meeting legal requirements, maintaining trust from your consumers, and protecting your customers’ health. 

Legal Requirements 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates food labels in order to help keep consumers safe and informed. Following the FDA Food Labeling Guide can help ensure that the placement, size, and content of your nutrition label meets legal requirements. Various aspects of nutrition label design must meet FDA requirements, such as font sizes and ingredient lists. Depending on your product, you may also need to include specific declarations to ensure your consumers are aware of the details of your product. 

The exact specifications and requirements for your nutrition label will vary depending on your product. However, regardless of what you sell, you will need to include:

  1. Statement of identity

  2. Net quantity statement

  3. Ingredient list

  4. Nutrition facts

  5. Manufacturer information 

Consumer Trust

Nutrition labels allow your consumers to get a sense of your brand, your mission, and most importantly, your product. If you make food or beverages, your customers need to know what they’re putting into their bodies if they choose your product. Creating accurate, easy-to-read nutrition labels is essential for the health and satisfaction of your customers. The more transparent and clear your labeling, the better your relationship of trust with your consumers can remain. 

Public Health

Everyone deserves to know what’s in their food. As a creator of a food or beverage product, you have a responsibility to distribute accurate information so that consumers can make informed decisions. In some cases, such as when allergens are involved, accurate nutrition labels can be a matter of life or death. With reliable nutrition label design and materials, you can play a positive role in public health.

What Materials to Use

The best materials to use for your nutrition label will depend on your specific product and your brand overall. Some products, such as foods that contain oils or liquids, call for more durable, waterproof label materials. On the other hand, dry products like cereals or chips may be a great fit for a paper label, especially if you’re aiming for a small-batch feel. When choosing the material for your nutrition label, consider the following options. 

  • White BOPP: This durable material allows for crisp text and images alongside bright color and excellent lasting power. Especially for sauces, beverages, or products that must withstand harsh environments or extreme temperatures, this material is a popular choice.

  • Textured paper: For smaller operations selling out of farmer’s markets or local shops, this label type can help drive home the specialty aspect of your products. This material will not withstand the elements as well as BOPP can, but it adds an element of character and may add to your brand story. 

The team at Wizard Labels is always happy to help you choose the right label material for your specific product. 

How to Choose the Right Design

The right nutrition label design for your product will communicate the uniqueness of your product and brand while also relaying critical information to your customers. Including the required nutrition facts and product specifications is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to creating your nutrition label. In addition to the text and graphics you include, it’s also important to think through various design elements for your labels. 

Things to consider when choosing your nutrition label design include the following. 

  • Shape: From customized, unique shapes to simple squares and sleek ovals, labels can take a variety of shapes. Experiment with different layouts to determine the best shape for your brand graphics and product information.

  • Colors: Regardless of where your product will be sold, choosing colors that will help it stand out from others while still staying true to your brand style is a must. 

  • Fonts: Carefully select the fonts used on your label in order to communicate your brand style while keeping all important information easily legible. Stick to a small number of fonts to keep your label feeling clean and streamlined. 

With legal requirements, customer trust, and public health on the line, creating accurate and attractive nutrition labels is key. Get an instant quote with Wizard Labels!