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Ingredient List Formatter

The free Ingredient List Formatter cleans up a pasted ingredient list toward the FDA presentation conventions in 21 CFR 101.4: consistent capitalization, tidy commas and sub-ingredients in parentheses. It also flags any of the nine major US allergens it finds and drafts the "Contains:" statement. It keeps your order, so check it runs by weight.

Raw ingredient list

Formatted output

Your cleaned, FDA-style ingredient statement appears here.

Note: FDA requires ingredients in descending order by weight (21 CFR 101.4). This tool standardizes formatting and preserves your order; it cannot infer weights from names, so confirm the order matches your formula.

How ingredient statements are ordered

Descending predominance by weight

Under 21 CFR § 101.4, ingredients are listed in descending order of predominance by weight as incorporated into the product - the weight going in, not the weight you bought and not the weight in the finished item after cooking.

Each ingredient appears by its common or usual name. Where a name is not one a consumer would recognise, the recognisable form is what belongs on the label.

Compound ingredients carry their own list

An ingredient that is itself made of several ingredients has to declare them. Enriched flour, chocolate chips, baking powder, seasoning blends and sauces all bring sub-ingredients with them, and those go in parentheses immediately after the parent, in their own descending order by weight.

This is where hand-written statements most often fail, particularly in baked goods, where a recipe with a dozen inputs can carry thirty or more declarable components once the nesting is expanded.

Re-sorting is not optional after a change

Change a quantity and the order can change. Increase the sugar past the flour and the whole statement re-sorts. A statement that was correct at formulation silently stops being correct the first time somebody adjusts the recipe without re-deriving the list.

Deriving the statement from the recipe rather than transcribing it is the only reliable way to keep those in step.

The 2% rule

Ingredients present at 2% or less by weight may be listed out of descending order at the end of the statement, under a qualifying phrase such as "Contains 2 percent or less of". This is a permission, not an obligation, and the qualifying phrase has to be there for the reordering to be legitimate.

What still is not automatic

Formatting is derivable; several things around it are not. Whether an ingredient needs a specific declared form, whether a colour requires certification and naming, whether an additive is permitted for your use at your level - these are judgement calls this tool does not make.

It orders and nests correctly from what you give it. Whether what you gave it is right remains yours.

Check the finished statement with the Allergen Detector, decode additive numbers with the E-Number Decoder, and see whether honey counts as an added sugar before you list sweeteners.

Reference information, not legal advice. Requirements change and turn on facts specific to your product - confirm against the current regulation before relying on it.

Common questions

What order do ingredients go in on a food label?

Descending order of predominance by weight, measured as the ingredients go into the batch rather than as they end up in the finished food. 21 CFR 101.4(a)(1) sets the rule. Water counts, and is often higher in the order than people expect. Ingredients present at 2 percent or less by weight may be grouped at the end under a qualifying phrase such as "Contains 2% or less of", which is the one permitted departure from strict order.

How do I write sub-ingredients?

A compound ingredient is declared either by naming it and listing its own components in parentheses immediately after, or by dropping the compound name and interleaving its components into the main list in their proper place by weight. Both are allowed. The parenthetical form is easier to read and easier to audit, which is why most labels use it.

What name do I use for an ingredient?

The common or usual name, not a marketing name and not a chemical name where a common one exists. 21 CFR 101.4(b) governs this. Some ingredients have required standardised terms, and certain colour additives must be declared by their specific name rather than as "artificial colour".

Which ingredients can be left off the list?

Incidental additives present at insignificant levels with no technical or functional effect in the finished food may be omitted under 21 CFR 101.100(a)(3). Processing aids often fall here. The exemption does not extend to a major food allergen: if an incidental additive carries one, it still has to be declared.

Does the ingredient list have to be in a particular place?

It must appear on the information panel or the principal display panel, in one place, in the required minimum type size, with enough contrast to be legible, and it cannot be interrupted by other material. The nutrition panel, the ingredient list, the allergen statement and the manufacturer name and address form one block of required information and should be laid out together.

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The rules this tool implements

Every one is cited to the paragraph it comes from.

🇺🇸 Standard Vertical LabelThe ingredient statement is required alongside this panel.

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