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Mandatory information on food packaging

European food information rules set out what a prepacked food must tell the consumer. The list is well known. The difficulty is not knowing it: it is checking it hundreds of times without slipping.

What has to appear

For a prepacked food intended for the final consumer, the label must carry the following.

  • The name of the food, describing what it actually is
  • The list of ingredients, in descending order of weight
  • Allergens, emphasised within the ingredient list
  • The net quantity
  • The date of minimum durability or the use-by date
  • Any special storage or usage conditions
  • The name and address of the responsible food business operator
  • Country of origin or place of provenance, where required
  • Instructions for use, where their absence would make use difficult
  • The alcoholic strength for beverages above the applicable threshold
  • The nutrition declaration

The formatting rules people forget

Carrying the information is not enough: how it is carried is regulated too.

  • Minimum character size: the x-height must meet the regulatory threshold, which regularly conflicts with layout constraints on small formats.
  • Same field of vision: some information must be legible together, without turning the pack.
  • Allergen emphasis: typography must distinguish allergens from the rest of the list, not merely mention them.
  • Legibility: sufficient contrast between text and background, which rules out combinations the creative side may already have approved.

The mistakes that come up most often

Across a portfolio of several hundred references, the same problems recur. They almost never come from ignorance: they are copying, version and synchronisation errors.

  • Inconsistency across faces: a net quantity or shelf life stated differently on two faces of the same pack.
  • Incomplete translation: a statement present in one language and missing in another on the same multilingual pack.
  • Outdated version: a recipe changed without the ingredient list following across every format in the range.
  • Allergen not emphasised: present in the list, but without the expected typographic treatment.
  • Operator address out of date after a change of company name or registered office.

Why human proofreading reaches its limit

Careful proofreading catches an isolated error very well. It catches an inconsistency between two documents poorly, and an inconsistency across eight language versions of the same pack very poorly.

This is not a competence problem, it is a question of the nature of the task: methodically comparing hundreds of values against each other is exactly the kind of work where human attention drops off, and where an automated check does not.

Have your packs checked automatically.

WorkPack verifies mandatory information, consistency across faces and languages, and compliance with the framework in force.

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