A packaged cookie, pie or loaf needs five things on its label: the name of the food, the net weight, the ingredients in order from heaviest to lightest, a Contains line for major allergens, and your business name and address. The ingredient list is where bakers trip. Anything you buy that has its own ingredients goes on the list with them in parentheses: not "flour" but "enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid)", the way it reads on the bag. The nine major allergens are milk, egg, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soy and sesame, the newest, and tree nuts are named by the nut, "pecans", not "tree nuts". Highly refined oils are the exception: refined soybean oil in shortening isn't a soy allergen, though soy lecithin in chocolate chips is. Home bakers selling under a cottage food law often add a state statement that the food was made in a home kitchen, and some states ask for more. Bakeries selling direct often qualify for an exemption from Nutrition Facts, unless the label makes nutrition claims. In the example below, a Pennsylvania baker builds four labels. Below are the parts, the example, and a free label builder.
The short version
- Name of the food, net weight, ingredients, Contains line, your name and address.
- Ingredients heaviest first; bought ingredients with their own ingredients in parentheses.
- Nine major allergens: milk, egg, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, soy, sesame.
- Tree nuts by the nut: "Contains: pecans".
- Highly refined oils aren't allergens; soy lecithin and soy flour are.
- Cottage food: add your state's home-kitchen statement.
- Small sellers are often exempt from Nutrition Facts, unless the label makes nutrition claims.
- TaroStack keeps each recipe's ingredients and versions, so a supplier change shows. More below.
The parts
| Part | What to write | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Name | What the food is: "chocolate whoopie pie" | The statement of identity |
| Net weight | "Net Wt 4.9 oz (140 g)", accurate, never more than what's in the package | 21 CFR 101.7 |
| Ingredients | Heaviest first; sub-ingredients in parentheses after the bought ingredient | 21 CFR 101.4 |
| Contains | "Contains: wheat, milk, egg", right after the ingredients; tree nuts, fish and shellfish by kind | 21 U.S.C. 343(w) |
| Who made it | Business name, city, state and ZIP | 21 CFR 101.5 |
| State statement | A cottage food line, if your state requires one | Your state's cottage food law |
The font sizes are in food label font size requirements, ingredient order in ingredient list order, and allergens in depth in food allergen labeling requirements. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a Pennsylvania baker's labels
Conestoga Kitchen, the made-up home bakery in Lititz, Pennsylvania, I use in these examples, is registered as a limited food establishment and sells at a farmers market and online. Its four labels:
| Product | Net weight line | Contains line |
|---|---|---|
| Chocolate whoopie pie | Net Wt 3.9 oz (113 g) | Contains: wheat, milk, egg |
| Soft pretzels, 3 pack | Net Wt 11.9 oz (340 g) | Contains: wheat, milk |
| Sesame soft pretzels, 3 pack | Net Wt 11.9 oz (340 g) | Contains: wheat, milk, sesame |
| Pecan sticky bun | Net Wt 5.0 oz (142 g) | Contains: wheat, milk, egg, pecans |
The whoopie pie's ingredients read: sugar, enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), vegetable shortening (soybean oil, palm oil), buttermilk, eggs, cocoa, marshmallow creme (corn syrup, sugar, egg whites, vanilla), baking soda, salt, vanilla extract. The shortening's soybean oil is refined, so soy isn't on the Contains line. The sesame pretzels share a table with the plain ones, so the baker bakes plain first and cleans before the sesame batch. Net weights are rounded down, so no package holds less than it says. What Pennsylvania asks of a home bakery is in license to sell baked goods.
Get the label builder
Download the baked goods label builder. One sheet: your name and address and any state statement at the top, then each product's name, net weight in grams, ingredients with sub-ingredients, and the major allergens it contains, with tree nuts, fish and shellfish by name; the net weight line and the Contains line fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A label is right for the ingredients you bought last time. When the shortening runs out and the store brand has soy flour in it, or the chocolate supplier adds a "made on shared equipment with peanuts" line, the printed labels are wrong and nothing tells you.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each recipe's ingredients and their suppliers, so a change that affects a label is on record.
Recipes with versions. Each product is a recipe by weight with its versions, so switching the shortening brand is a new version with the date it changed.
Ingredients by supplier and lot. Each delivery is received from its supplier with its lot, and fields of your own on the lot can hold a note from the bag's label, so a substitute brand stands out.
Labels on hand. Printed labels are items with stock, so you know how many old labels are left before a recipe change, and the next batch of labels comes up on the reorder list.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The recipe behind a label | A card in a drawer | A recipe with versions |
| A substitute brand | Noticed, or not | Its own supplier and lot |
| What the bag's label said | Thrown away with the bag | A field on the lot |
| Old labels left | Count the roll | Stock of the label item |
Recipes with versions, receiving, lots, your own fields and the reorder list are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.