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Net Weight & Yield Calculator

The free Net Weight and Yield Calculator reconciles three figures a packaged food label must keep consistent: total batch yield, serving size and servings per container. Enter any two and it calculates the third, plus the weight of each piece when you give a unit count, such as a batch that makes 24 cookies.

Enter any two; the third computes

Tip: edit any two fields and the third recalculates. Locked field = the one you didn't touch last.

Label statement

Suggested net weight declaration

Net Wt 600 g (21.2 oz)

Suggested servings statement

20 servings per container · Serving size 30.0 g

All-in-grams (round-trip)

Yield 600 g · Serving 30.0 g · 20 servings

Net weight declaration format per 21 CFR 101.7. Serving size must be based on RACC (21 CFR 101.12) for compliance.

Declaring net quantity of contents

Net means the food, not the package

The net quantity declaration under 21 CFR § 101.7 covers the food only. Packaging, wrapping and any packing medium that is not part of the food are excluded.

Declaring gross weight is a straightforward violation, and it is easy to do accidentally when the number comes off a filling line that weighs the filled container.

Both measurement systems, in the right order

The declaration carries both US customary and metric units. Solids are declared by weight, liquids by fluid measure, and some products by count where that is the sensible measure.

It sits in the bottom 30% of the principal display panel, with a minimum type size that steps up with panel area.

Drained weight for products packed in liquid

Where a food is packed in a liquid that is not customarily consumed - olives in brine, fruit in syrup where the syrup is discarded - the drained weight is what the consumer is buying, and the declaration has to reflect that rather than the fill weight.

Getting this wrong overstates the contents, which is the version of the error regulators care about most.

Overfill, underfill and reasonable variation

Filling equipment varies, and the rules contemplate that. Reasonable variation from unavoidable deviations in manufacture is permitted; systematic underfill is not, and neither is a declaration set optimistically at the top of your process range.

Target the middle of your actual distribution rather than the label figure you would prefer, and keep the fill records that demonstrate it.

Yield loss is why the two numbers differ

The finished net weight is rarely the sum of what went in. Moisture loss in cooking, trim and peel losses, and product retained in equipment all sit between input weight and packed weight.

That gap is what a yield calculation quantifies - and it is also what makes per-100 g nutrition differ between the raw formulation and the finished food.

Related: the Bucket Fill Calculator for container fills, and cost per serving once you know the yield.

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 is the difference between batch yield and net weight?

Batch yield is what comes out of the process; net weight is what goes in one package. Yield already accounts for cooking loss, evaporation, trim and give-away, so dividing raw input by pack count overstates every package. Work from measured finished yield, not from the recipe total.

What is drained weight and when do I declare it?

For a solid food packed in a liquid that is not normally consumed, such as fruit in juice or vegetables in brine, the declaration is based on the drained solid rather than the total contents. Which products this applies to is category-specific, so confirm it for your product rather than generalising from a similar one.

How does yield affect my nutrition numbers?

Directly, and it is the most common source of a wrong panel. Nutrients are calculated on the raw inputs, then expressed per serving of the finished food. If the product loses 15 percent of its mass to evaporation, every nutrient concentrates by about 17.6 percent (1 ÷ 0.85). Skipping the yield step understates the panel across the board.

How much overfill should I plan?

Enough that the average of a lot meets the declared weight and individual packs stay within the permitted shortfall, given the actual variability of your filler. That is a measurement question rather than a rule of thumb: run the line, record the distribution, and set the target from it.

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Check your own jurisdiction

This tool is not tied to one country's rules. What you declare on the label is, and the requirements differ.

Regulation libraryAll 152 label formats, each cited to the paragraph it follows.Coverage by countryFind the rules that apply where you sell.

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