Every packaged food sold in the United States must carry a Nutrition Facts label that lists serving size, calories, 13 specific nutrients, and percent Daily Values. The FDA sets these requirements, and the current label format, updated in 2020, added several new elements including added sugars and updated serving sizes to reflect how people actually eat.
Serving Size and Servings Per Container
The top of every Nutrition Facts label starts with two pieces of information: the number of servings in the package and the size of each serving. Serving sizes aren’t suggestions for how much you should eat. They’re based on Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed (RACCs), which are standardized amounts that reflect how much of a given food people typically eat in one sitting. Manufacturers are required to convert these reference amounts into familiar household measures like cups, tablespoons, or pieces, along with the metric weight in grams.
The FDA updated many of these reference amounts in 2020 to better match real eating habits. A serving of ice cream, for example, went from half a cup to two-thirds of a cup. A serving of soda went from 8 ounces to 12 ounces. These changes mean the calorie and nutrient numbers on today’s labels are more realistic than they used to be.
Calories
Calories appear in large, bold type directly below the serving information. The FDA requires this number to be printed in a font no smaller than 22 points, making it the most visually prominent figure on the label. This is the total energy per serving, measured in kilocalories. Every other nutrient listed below it also corresponds to that same single serving.
The 13 Required Nutrients
Below calories, the label must declare the following nutrients in this order:
- Total fat (in grams)
- Saturated fat (in grams, indented under total fat)
- Trans fat (in grams, indented under total fat)
- Cholesterol (in milligrams)
- Sodium (in milligrams)
- Total carbohydrate (in grams)
- Dietary fiber (in grams, indented under total carbohydrate)
- Total sugars (in grams, indented under total carbohydrate)
- Added sugars (in grams, indented under total sugars)
- Protein (in grams)
- Vitamin D (in micrograms)
- Calcium (in milligrams)
- Iron (in milligrams)
- Potassium (in milligrams)
The four required vitamins and minerals changed with the 2020 update. Vitamins A and C were dropped as mandatory (they’re now voluntary) and replaced by vitamin D and potassium, which are nutrients that Americans are more likely to be deficient in. Calcium and iron stayed.
Added Sugars and How They’re Displayed
Added sugars are one of the newer required elements. They include any sugars introduced during processing, such as table sugar, dextrose, syrups, and honey, as well as sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. They do not include sugars naturally present in whole fruits, vegetables, or milk.
On the label, added sugars appear beneath total sugars with the word “Includes” before them. This wording signals that added sugars are a subset of total sugars, not a separate category. Both the gram amount and a percent Daily Value are required. The Daily Value for added sugars is 50 grams per day based on a 2,000-calorie diet, so a product with 25 grams of added sugars would show 50% DV.
Percent Daily Value
Most nutrients on the label include a percent Daily Value (%DV) column on the right side. This number tells you how much one serving contributes to the recommended daily intake of that nutrient, based on a 2,000-calorie diet. A footnote at the bottom of every label is required to explain this: “The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.”
As a general rule, 5% DV or less is considered low for a nutrient, and 20% DV or more is considered high. This applies whether you’re trying to get more of something (like fiber or potassium) or less of something (like sodium or saturated fat). Trans fat is one of the few required nutrients that does not have a %DV listed because no safe intake level has been established.
Formatting and Design Rules
The FDA doesn’t just regulate what appears on the label. It regulates exactly how it looks. The words “Nutrition Facts” must be printed in bold type at no smaller than 16 points. Calories must be bold at no smaller than 22 points. Serving size must be bold at no smaller than 10 points. All individual nutrient names (total fat, sodium, dietary fiber, and so on) must be bold at no smaller than 8 points.
The standard format is a vertical rectangle with black text on a white background, separated by horizontal rules. But the FDA allows several alternative formats depending on package size. Smaller packages can use a tabular (horizontal) layout or even a linear format where nutrients run in a single line of text. Packages with less than 12 square inches of labeling space can use type as small as 6 points across the board. Every format still requires the same nutrients in the same order.
Dual-Column Labels
Some products require two columns of nutrition information. If a package contains between two and three times the standard reference amount and could reasonably be consumed in one sitting, the label must show nutrition data both per serving and per package (or per unit). A 20-ounce bottle of soda is a classic example: technically more than one serving, but most people drink the whole thing. The dual-column format lets you see the nutrition for a single serving alongside the nutrition for the entire container, with vertical lines separating the two columns.
What’s Voluntary
Manufacturers can choose to list additional nutrients beyond the 13 required ones. Common voluntary additions include vitamins A, C, E, B6, B12, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc. However, if a manufacturer makes a nutrient content claim on the package (like “good source of magnesium”), the nutrient referenced in the claim must then appear on the Nutrition Facts label. A claim effectively turns a voluntary nutrient into a mandatory one for that product.
Foods That Are Exempt
Not every food product needs a Nutrition Facts label. Nutrition labeling for raw fruits, vegetables, and fish is voluntary. Coffee, tea, and certain spices that contain no significant nutrients are also exempt. Small businesses that meet specific low-revenue and low-sales thresholds can apply for an exemption. Restaurant food, food sold by street vendors, and food prepared on-site at bakeries or delis is generally exempt as well, though separate menu labeling rules apply to chain restaurants with 20 or more locations.
Foods packaged in containers too small to fit any version of the label (generally under about 12 square inches of total surface area) can use the smallest linear format or, in rare cases, provide a phone number or web address where consumers can access the nutrition information instead.