Printing a nutrition label involves three main steps: getting your nutritional data, generating a compliant label design, and choosing the right printer and materials. Whether you’re launching a packaged food product or labeling items for a farmers market, the process is more accessible than it used to be, with software tools that handle most of the regulatory formatting for you.
Get Your Nutritional Data First
Before you can print anything, you need accurate nutrient values for your product. There are two accepted methods: database analysis and laboratory testing.
Database analysis uses software that pulls from large ingredient databases (some containing over 500,000 items) to calculate the nutritional profile of your recipe. You enter your ingredients and quantities, and the software does the math. This approach costs roughly $25 to $100 per product, depending on whether you use a self-service tool or hire a registered dietitian. It’s also flexible. If you change a supplier or tweak a recipe, you update the entry and get new numbers instantly.
Laboratory testing is more precise but significantly more expensive. You’ll need to prepare 10 to 12 food samples and ship them in temperature-controlled packaging to a testing facility. The FDA estimates this process costs around $650 per menu item, factoring in preparation, shipping, and analysis fees. Any recipe change means retesting from scratch. Lab analysis makes more sense for high-volume products where precision matters most, while database analysis works well for small businesses and startups. Both methods are accepted by the FDA.
What the FDA Requires on the Label
Every Nutrition Facts label must include calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, total sugars, added sugars, and protein. Four vitamins and minerals are also mandatory: vitamin D, calcium, iron, and potassium. If you add other vitamins or minerals to your food, or make a claim about them on the package (like “high in zinc”), those must appear on the label too.
Added sugars get their own line, separate from total sugars. These include sugars introduced during processing, syrups, honey, and concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. They don’t include the sugars naturally present in milk, fruits, or vegetables. The daily value for added sugars is 50 grams, so if your product contains 7 grams per serving, the label would show 14% DV.
Serving sizes aren’t up to you. The FDA sets Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed (RACC) for each food category. Bagels and muffins use 110 grams, breads and rolls use 50 grams, brownies use 40 grams, and so on. Your label software will typically handle this lookup, but you need to know which category your product falls into.
Formatting Rules That Matter
The label must be enclosed in a box using hairlines, printed in a single color on a white or neutral contrasting background. All text uses a single easy-to-read typeface in upper and lowercase letters, with letters that never touch each other. The heading “Nutrition Facts” must be the boldest text on the label except for the calorie number. The calorie value must be bold and no smaller than 22 points. Nutrient names must be bold and at least 8 points with 4 points of leading (the space between lines).
Serving size and servings per container go directly under the heading. A bar separates serving information from “Amount per serving,” another bar separates calories from the “% Daily Value” column, and another bar separates vitamins and minerals from the nutrients above them. Each nutrient lists its name, weight in grams, milligrams, or micrograms, and its percent daily value.
Choose a Label Generator
Label generation software handles both the nutritional calculations and the FDA-compliant formatting. Several options serve different needs. Food Label Maker offers a database of over 500,000 ingredients and is widely considered the most comprehensive option. ReciPal targets startups and small businesses, with an AI feature that lets you upload a photo of an ingredient spec sheet. DataCor (formerly LabelCalc) uses a USDA-compiled database and automatically applies FDA rounding rules. Nutritics provides access to over 1.5 million foods and is popular in academic and professional settings.
Most of these tools let you enter your recipe, select a label format, and export a print-ready file. Some generate standard vertical labels, tabular layouts for small packages, and dual-column formats. The output is typically a PDF or image file sized to your packaging specifications.
Pick the Right Printer and Label Material
For small runs (a few hundred labels at a time), printing in-house makes sense. For large production volumes, commercial label printers or print shops are more cost-effective and consistent.
Thermal transfer printers are the better choice for food products. They resist smudging, fading, and moisture damage, and labels stay readable in hot, humid, or refrigerated conditions. Inkjet printers are cheaper upfront but produce labels that deteriorate quickly when exposed to water, steam, grease, or frequent handling. If your product will sit in a refrigerator or freezer, or if the packaging might get oily or wet, thermal printing is worth the investment.
Label material matters just as much as the printer. Standard paper labels work for dry goods in controlled environments. For anything exposed to moisture, oils, or temperature swings, polyester (also called Mylar) is extremely durable and offers excellent chemical resistance. Vinyl works for outdoor or heavily handled products. Solvent-resistant label blanks paired with specialty thermal transfer ribbons give variable data lasting durability even in harsh conditions.
Who’s Exempt From Nutrition Labeling
Not every food business needs a Nutrition Facts label. The FDA exempts retailers with annual gross sales of $500,000 or less, or those with annual food sales to consumers of $50,000 or less. A separate exemption covers low-volume products: if your company has fewer than 100 full-time equivalent employees and sells fewer than 100,000 units of a product per year, that product can qualify. Businesses with fewer than 10 full-time employees that sell fewer than 10,000 units annually don’t even need to file an exemption notice.
These exemptions disappear the moment you make a nutrition claim on your packaging. If you label something “low fat” or “high in fiber,” you’re required to include full nutrition facts regardless of your business size.
Putting It All Together
The practical workflow looks like this: gather your recipes and ingredient lists, run them through a label generation tool or send them to a nutritional analysis service, review the output for accuracy, then export a print-ready file. Before printing a full batch, print a test label and check it against the FDA formatting requirements. Verify that the calorie number is prominently bold, that the required nutrients are all present and in the correct order, and that the serving size matches the RACC for your food category. Once everything checks out, print your production run on the appropriate label stock and apply them to your packaging.