How to Get a Nutrition Label for Your Product

Updated November 2026 · For US food producers

If you sell packaged food in the US — at retail, online, or through a store that asked for “a compliant panel” — you need a Nutrition Facts label on the package. The FDA does not approve labels in advance; compliance is judged on the physical package, so the label has to be right before it goes to print. This guide walks through the three real routes small producers use, what each costs, and how to choose.

Who actually needs one

• Packaged food sold at retail — jams, sauces, baked goods, snacks, beverages. The FDA requires a nutrition panel unless an exemption applies (very small businesses have limited exemptions, but retailers increasingly request a panel anyway).
• Cottage food sellers — rules vary by state; some states now require labels that mirror the federal panel, and formal retail channels generally ask for one regardless.
• Online sellers — marketplaces such as Amazon ask for nutrition information in food categories.
• Anyone bidding for wholesale — a buyer’s vendor onboarding pack almost always includes spec sheets with a nutrition panel.

The three routes

1. Laboratory analysis

You ship a sample of the finished product to a food lab; they run instrumental analysis and return raw nutrient values, which then have to be formatted into a compliant panel. It is the gold standard for accuracy of the physical sample — and it is priced like it: hundreds of dollars per product, per formulation change, per batch tweak. Most small producers only need a lab when a customer contract or a specific claim (light, reduced sodium) requires measured values.

2. Label consultant

A food-label consultant typically builds the panel from your recipe using database analysis, writes the ingredient statement, and reviews compliance. You are paying for convenience and accountability — $50–150 per SKU adds up quickly once you have several products or revise recipes often.

3. Database software (the standard route)

Nutrient values are calculated from your recipe: each ingredient is looked up in a reference database (USDA FoodData Central), scaled by its weight in the batch, and divided by the number of servings. The software then applies the regulatory formatting rules — rounding steps, %DV calculations, nutrient ordering, and the type sizes the regulation prescribes.

This is the same method consultants use; the software just puts it in your hands. The one thing it cannot fix is a wrong recipe: the label is exactly as accurate as the weights you enter. Weigh your batch, not your memory.

What has to be on the panel

• Serving size and servings per container
• Calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, total sugars, added sugars, protein
• Vitamin D, calcium, iron, potassium — with % Daily Values
• The standard footnote (or the shortened version permitted on smaller panels)

Rounding is not optional or stylistic — each nutrient has its own rounding steps in 21 CFR § 101.9, and type sizes are specified too (Calories at 16/22 pt on the standard format). A good generator applies all of this automatically; that is the difference between a compliant panel and a template that looks right.

Which route is right for you?

If you have a recipe with known weights — and most home and small-batch producers do — database software is the fastest and cheapest route by a wide margin, and it is what consultants run behind the scenes anyway. Move to a lab when a specific contract, certification, or nutrient claim demands measured values. Use a consultant when you would rather pay someone to own the entire process.