One recipe, country-compliant labels for 114 countries
When you sell the same energy bar into the US, EU, Mexico, and India, you need four labels with four sets of rules. Build them all from a single recipe.
| Per 100g | |
|---|---|
| Energy | 2092 kJ / 500 kcal |
| Fat | 25 g |
| of which saturates | 13 g |
| Carbohydrate | 64 g |
| of which sugars | 36 g |
| Protein | 7.1 g |
| Salt | 0.8 g |
| Fat / Lipides | 7 g | 9 % |
| Saturated / Saturés | 3.5 g + Trans 0 g | 18 % |
| Cholesterol / Cholestérol | 10 mg | 3 % |
| Sodium | 95 mg | 4 % |
| Carbohydrate / Glucides | 18 g | 7 % |
| Fibre / Fibres | 1 g | 4 % |
| Sugars / Sucres | 10 g | 10 % |
| Protein / Protéines | 2 g | |
| Vitamin D / Vitamine D | 0 mcg | 0 % |
| Calcium | 10 mg | 1 % |
| Iron / Fer | 1 mg | 4 % |
| Potassium | 45 mg | 1 % |
*5 % ou moins c'est peu, 15 % ou plus c'est beaucoup
Save once, export anywhere
Save your recipe with per-100g nutrient data. Switch the format rail to any of 114 countries and the label re-renders with the correct rounding, unit, DV, and layout for that jurisdiction.
Regional front-of-pack labels and warning marks
Mexico's black octagons, Chile's "ALTO EN" warnings, France's Nutri-Score, Australia's HSR, India's INR star rating: all auto-computed from your per-100g values.
Bilingual and multi-script food labels
Arabic + English for GCC. Amharic + English for Ethiopia. Bilingual EN/FR for Canada. GB Simplified Chinese for China. Full CAA Japanese labels. Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian.
Why a US label does not travel
Exporters usually discover this at the border rather than in planning. A compliant FDA Nutrition Facts panel is not a compliant EU panel with the units swapped - the two regimes disagree at the level of what gets measured, not just how it is printed.
Basis. The US declares per serving, sized against the RACC table in § 101.12. The EU declares per 100 g or 100 ml, with per-portion optional and additional. Your serving size does not carry over; the denominator changes.
Energy. The US prints calories. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires both kilojoules and kilocalories, in that order. A panel showing only kcal is incomplete in the EU regardless of how accurate the number is.
Salt versus sodium. The US declares sodium in milligrams. The EU declares salt in grams, derived from sodium. These are different numbers for the same product, and converting one to the other is the single most commonly botched step in a US-to-EU conversion.
Reference values. US %Daily Values come from § 101.9(c)(8)(iv). The EU uses Reference Intakes. Canada uses its own Daily Values, which differ from the American ones for several nutrients. Same food, three different percentages.
What each destination actually demands
- EU - per 100 g/ml, kJ and kcal, the mandatory seven nutrients, salt rather than sodium, allergens typographically distinguished inside the ingredient list rather than in a separate "Contains" line, and a minimum type size
- Canada - bilingual English and French throughout, the Canadian Nutrition Facts table, Canadian Daily Values, and the front-of-pack "high in" symbol where saturated fat, sugars, or sodium cross threshold
- Mexico - NOM-051 black octagon seals for excess calories, sugars, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium, plus separate legends for caffeine and sweeteners
- Chile - the "ALTO EN" black stop-sign under Ley 20.606, on its own threshold ladder that differs for solids and liquids
- China - GB 28050 nutrition labeling with NRV percentages, alongside GB 7718 for the general label
- India - FSSAI Labelling and Display Regulations, per 100 g with RDA percentages
- Japan - the Consumer Affairs Agency Food Labeling Standard, with sodium expressed as salt equivalent
- Gulf states - GSO requirements, in Arabic alongside English
Codex as the fallback
Plenty of destination markets have no detailed national nutrition-labeling regime of their own, or accept an international baseline. The Codex Alimentarius guidelines (CAC/GL 2-1985) cover that gap and are recognised across 55+ countries, which makes them the sensible default for a market you are entering for the first time and cannot find a specific rule for.
Using Codex is a starting position, not a guarantee. Confirm with your importer or customs broker before a first shipment - they will know what has actually cleared recently, which is information no regulation text contains.
One recipe, many labels
The reason this is tractable at all is that the underlying data does not change. Your product has one true set of nutrient values per 100 g. Everything above is a presentation layer over that: which nutrients get shown, on what basis, in which units, against which reference values, with which warnings.
So you enter the recipe once. Switch the format rail to a destination and the panel re-renders under that country's rules - rounding, units, reference values, mandatory nutrients, layout, and any front-of-pack marks computed from the same underlying values. Reformulate later and every market's label updates together, which is the part that actually saves the time.
Batch export a country set
Shipping into five markets means five labels. Select the destination set and export the whole group in one operation as a zip, in whichever format your printer or importer asked for.