FDA RACC and Reference Amounts Explained
What a Reference Amount Customarily Consumed is, how 21 CFR 101.12 turns it into your printed serving size, and how it decides single-serving and dual-column panels.
The RACC is the number that decides almost everything else on your Nutrition Facts panel. It sets the serving size you print, which sets every gram amount and every percentage, and it also decides whether your package is legally one serving, whether you owe a second column, and which criteria a nutrient content claim is tested against. This page explains what an FDA reference amount customarily consumed is under 21 CFR 101.12, how the table is organised, and how the reference amount becomes the serving size a shopper actually reads.
This is the reference-data view. For the serving size rules themselves and how they are applied product by product, see FDA serving size requirements and how to determine serving size. For where serving size sits among the other panel obligations, see Nutrition Facts label requirements.
What a RACC actually is
RACC stands for Reference Amount Customarily Consumed per eating occasion. The values are set by FDA in 21 CFR 101.12(b) and they are derived from national food consumption survey data, specifically the mean, median and mode of the amount people report eating in one sitting. They describe observed behaviour. They are not a portion recommendation, and FDA is explicit about this: the serving size on a label is not a recommendation of how much to eat or drink. The legal basis is the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, which required serving sizes to reflect the amount customarily consumed rather than an amount a manufacturer might prefer.
Three properties of the RACC catch people out. It is based on the edible portion only, so bones, shells, pits and inedible packaging components are excluded. It is assigned according to the major intended use of the food, so milk is referenced as a beverage rather than as an ingredient. And it is a regulatory constant for a category, not a per-product figure, so two competing products in the same category share the same reference amount even if one is denser or richer than the other.
How the RACC table is organised
The reference amounts in 101.12(b) are split into two tables by population. Table 1 covers foods for infants and children 1 through 3. Table 2 covers the general population, ages 4 and older, and is the one most manufacturers use. Within each table the entries are grouped by product category and then by specific product description, in the food-group order the regulation lays out, and each entry carries the reference amount in grams for solids or millilitres for fluids, often with a household measure alongside.
Finding your product is a matter of matching the product description, not the marketing name. Categories are drawn narrowly in places where consumption differs sharply. Crackers, for example, are split by whether they are eaten as a snack. Ice cream sold in bulk and ice cream sold as a novelty became separate categories in 2016. Reading the neighbouring entries in your category is usually more informative than reading your own, because it tells you where FDA has drawn the line.
Selected reference amounts across categories
The following are current entries from Table 2 of 101.12(b). This is a sample chosen to show the range of how reference amounts are expressed, not a substitute for the table itself.
| Product category | Reference amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Carbonated and noncarbonated beverages, wine coolers, water | 360 mL (12 fl oz) | Raised from 8 fl oz in 2016 |
| Coffee or tea, flavored and sweetened | 360 mL prepared | Referenced as prepared, not as concentrate |
| Yogurt | 170 g | Reduced from 225 g in 2016 |
| Ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet, frozen novelties | 2/3 cup | Includes coatings and wafers; raised from 1/2 cup in 2016 |
| Cookies | 30 g | Discrete-unit rules usually apply |
| Crackers, snack | 30 g | Separate from non-snack crackers |
| Crackers non-snack, melba toast, ice cream cones | 15 g | Half the snack cracker amount |
| Breads and rolls | 50 g | Slice count follows the discrete-unit rules |
| Bagels, toaster pastries, muffins | 110 g | Raised from 55 g in 2016 |
| Biscuits, croissants, tortillas, English muffins, scones | 55 g | Distinct from the bagel and muffin category |
| Hot cereal | 1 cup prepared, or 40 g plain dry, or 55 g sweetened dry | Prepared and dry bases both appear |
| Pies, cobblers, pastries | 125 g | Usually expressed as a fraction of the whole |
| Ready-to-eat cereal | Set in density tiers by grams per cup | Check the current table in 21 CFR 101.12(b) for your category |
Ready-to-eat cereal deserves the caution flag it has in that table. The reference amount is not a single value: it steps up as the cereal gets denser, measured in grams per cup, so a puffed cereal and a dense granola in the same aisle can carry materially different reference amounts. Because the tier boundaries and their gram values are exactly the sort of detail that moves, weigh a level cup of your finished product and read the tiers off the current table in 21 CFR 101.12(b) rather than working from a secondary source.
From reference amount to serving size: the RACC is not what you print
This is the distinction that matters most in practice. The RACC is a regulatory reference amount. The serving size is what appears on the label, and it is derived from the RACC under 21 CFR 101.9(b). They are frequently different numbers.
Under 101.9(b)(7) the printed serving size is expressed as the household measure closest to the RACC, followed by the metric equivalent in parentheses: grams for solids, millilitres for liquids. The metric figure is rounded to the nearest whole gram or millilitre, except below 5 g where 0.5 g increments are used. The household measure itself is constrained by 101.9(b)(5): cups are expressed in 1/4 or 1/3 cup increments; tablespoons as 1, 1 1/3, 1 1/2, 1 2/3, 2 or 3; teaspoons as 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1 or 2. Where none of those fit you use a piece, a slice, a fraction such as 1/8 pizza, a tray or a jar. Ounces with a visual unit are allowed only when nothing else applies, and fluid ounces are permitted for beverages. The conversions the regulation uses are 1 tsp equals 5 mL, 1 tbsp equals 15 mL, 1 cup equals 240 mL, 1 fl oz equals 30 mL and 1 oz equals 28 g.
So a 170 g yogurt RACC becomes a serving size expressed in the closest permitted household measure with 170 g in parentheses, and a 360 mL beverage RACC becomes 12 fl oz (360 mL). The reference amount drives the answer; it is not itself the answer.
Servings per container follows separately under 101.9(b)(8). Round to the nearest whole number, except where the container holds between 2 and 5 servings, in which case round to the nearest 0.5 and print it with the word "about". Single-serving containers do not have to state servings per container at all.
Discrete units and small reference amounts
If your product comes in whole units that people do not divide, such as cookies, slices, bars or wrapped pieces, the serving size is a count of whole units rather than a weight you invent. The rule in 101.9(b)(2)(i) works off the ratio of one unit to the RACC.
| One unit as a share of the RACC | Serving size |
|---|---|
| 50% or less | The number of whole units closest to the RACC |
| More than 50% but less than 67% | 1 or 2 units, at the manufacturer's option |
| 67% to less than 200% | 1 unit |
| 200% to 300% | An amount approximating the RACC, plus a mandatory second column per unit |
The 50 percent rung is where small products live. A 12 g cookie against a 30 g cookie RACC is 40 percent of the reference amount, so the serving is the number of whole cookies closest to 30 g, which is 2 cookies at 24 g rather than 3 at 36 g. You do not print half a cookie, and you do not round the count in whichever direction flatters the calorie figure. Large units that are normally divided, such as cakes, pies and pizzas, use the fraction closest to the RACC instead, and bulk products use the household measure closest to the RACC.
Small reference amounts have knock-on effects beyond serving size. The updated "healthy" nutrient content claim, for instance, tests products with a RACC of 50 g or less, or 3 tablespoons or less, against criteria expressed per 50 g rather than per RACC, while larger-RACC products are tested per RACC. A small reference amount therefore changes not only what you print but which yardstick a claim is measured against.
How the RACC sets the package thresholds
The reference amount is the denominator for the single-serving and dual-column rules. Take the total amount of food in the package, divide by the RACC, and the ratio tells you which regime applies.
| Package contents as a share of the RACC | What the label must do | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 200%, packaged and sold individually | Single-serving container. The whole container is one serving. | 101.9(b)(6) |
| More than 150% and less than 200% | Still one serving, but you may voluntarily add a left-hand column showing amounts per the household measure closest to the RACC. | 101.9(b)(6) |
| At least 200% and up to and including 300% | Dual column is mandatory: per serving derived from the RACC, and per container. | 101.9(b)(12)(i) |
| Above 300% | Ordinary multi-serving labeling. A second column is optional. | 101.9(e) |
The same 200 to 300 percent trigger applies to discrete units that individually weigh 200 to 300 percent of the RACC, where the second column is a per-unit column. Several categories are excused from the mandatory dual column: products using the tabular or linear small-package formats, raw fruits, vegetables and seafood carrying voluntary labeling, products that already show an "as prepared" or "combined with" column, products with columns for two age groups, popcorn with a per 1 cup popped column, and varied-weight products.
One point worth flagging honestly. Some sources describe an option under 101.9(b)(6) for products whose RACC is 100 g or 100 mL or more, packaged at more than 150 percent but less than 200 percent of the RACC, to be labeled as either 1 or 2 servings. We have not been able to confirm that text against the current regulation, so treat it as unverified and read 101.9(b)(6) directly before relying on it. The general rule, which is confirmed, is that less than 200 percent of the RACC in an individually packaged product is one serving.
What the 2016 rule moved
FDA published the serving size final rule at 81 FR 34000 on 27 May 2016, alongside the main Nutrition Facts modernisation rule. Reference amounts were revised where NHANES 2003-2008 data showed the median amount consumed had shifted materially, using a screen of roughly a 25 percent or greater change against the 1993 RACC. The rule also added new categories, defined single-serving containers, introduced the dual-column requirement and amended the treatment of breath mints.
| Category | Previous reference amount | Current reference amount |
|---|---|---|
| Carbonated and non-carbonated beverages | 8 fl oz | 12 fl oz (360 mL) |
| Ice cream | 1/2 cup | 2/3 cup, with bulk and novelties now separate categories |
| Yogurt | 225 g | 170 g |
| Bagels and muffins | 55 g | 110 g |
Note that the changes went in both directions. Yogurt came down while beverages and bagels went up, because the reference amount tracks what surveys recorded rather than any policy about what people should eat. The bagel change is the one with the largest downstream effect, since doubling the reference amount doubles every declared amount on the panel.
When your product does not fit a listed category
New product formats appear faster than the table is revised, so a fair number of products have no exact entry. The approach is to use the reference amount for the product category most similar to yours in composition, form and how it is eaten. Work from the product description in the regulation rather than the marketing category, and document the comparison you made and why, because that reasoning is what you will be asked for later.
Where the choice is genuinely ambiguous and the outcome matters, for example when two candidate categories put you on opposite sides of the 200 percent dual-column threshold, you can ask FDA for a determination rather than guessing. Keep the correspondence with your labeling records. Whichever route you take, confirm the current text of 21 CFR 101.12 before you commit, since a category that did not exist at your last label revision may exist now.
Look up your category before you set a serving size rather than after. Our RACC lookup tool searches reference amounts by product description, and the nutrition label generator takes the reference amount through to the finished panel, including the single-serving and dual-column decisions.
Frequently asked questions
Is the RACC the same as the serving size?
No. The RACC is a regulatory reference amount published in 21 CFR 101.12(b). The serving size is what you print, derived from the RACC under 101.9(b) and expressed as a household measure with a metric weight or volume in parentheses. They coincide sometimes and differ often, particularly for discrete units where the serving has to be a whole number of pieces.
Can I choose a smaller serving size to make my numbers look better?
No. The serving size is derived from the RACC for your category by rule, not selected. That is the whole point of having a fixed reference amount: it makes two products in the same category comparable on the shelf. Deviating from the derivation is a labeling violation, not a formatting preference.
My bottle holds 500 mL and the RACC is 360 mL. What do I do?
500 divided by 360 is about 139 percent, which is less than 200 percent, so if it is packaged and sold individually it is a single-serving container and the whole bottle is one serving. It is below 150 percent, so the optional extra column is not available to you either. A 600 mL bottle at about 167 percent would be one serving with that optional column available; a 750 mL bottle at about 208 percent would cross into mandatory dual column.
Are RACCs different for foods aimed at young children?
Yes. 21 CFR 101.12(b) has a separate Table 1 for foods intended for infants and children 1 through 3, distinct from Table 2 for the general population aged 4 and older. If your product is marketed for that younger group, use Table 1, and remember that the Daily Values behind the percentages change as well.
Does the RACC include inedible parts?
No. Reference amounts are set on the edible portion only, so shells, bones, pits and similar are excluded. They are also assigned by the major intended use of the food, which is why a product used mainly as a beverage is referenced as a beverage even if some buyers use it as an ingredient.
