GET YOUR LABELS RIGHT THE FIRST TIME—CONSULT AN EXPERT

Compliant food and beverage labeling separates smooth launches from expensive disasters. Get your regulatory requirements wrong or choose materials that fail in cold storage, and you’re facing reprints, rush fees, and stalled deliveries.

This guide gives new brands the essentials to ship with confidence: where to place mandatory elements, how to maintain legibility, and which materials actually work. Plus, a pre-press checklist so your first production run gets accepted and sells.

ENSURE COMPLIANCE BEFORE YOU PRINT—CONNECT WITH A CONSULTANT

Compliance First, Everything Else Second

There’s no getting around it—FDA labeling requirements exist for a reason. They’re legal mandates that protect consumers and ensure fair trade. Non-compliance could mean product recalls, regulatory penalties, and brand reputation damage that can send emerging companies back to square one.

The non-negotiables:

  • Principal display panel with clear product identification
  • Net weight/volume in specific locations and font sizes
  • Ingredient lists in descending order by weight
  • Nutrition facts panels with accurate information
  • Allergen declarations (both in ingredients and “Contains” statements)
  • Manufacturer information and contact methods

Before you even think about aesthetics, nail down these requirements. Design for compliance-first, then build outward.

Your Food and Beverage Labeling Checklist

Approach Design Strategically

Start by calculating minimum space for mandatory elements. From there, you can build up your visual hierarchy to accommodate both legal and marketing objectives. This prevents costly redesigns and launch delays.

And here’s a pro tip: Be strategic about who you work with. If you’re hiring a designer, opt for one that specializes in design for food and beverage labeling. When it’s time for production, work with a label converter who you know can handle the finer details of printing compliance.

Integrate Your Ingredient Lists

Ingredient lists are scrutinized heavily, yet many new brands underestimate their complexity. The FDA requires specific naming conventions that may differ from common names you’d use in marketing. “Sugar” might need to be “cane sugar” or “beet sugar,” food additives use regulatory names rather than branded ingredient names, and allergens need clear identification in both ingredient lists and separate “Contains” statements.

If your formula supports recognizable, pronounceable ingredients, feature this prominently as a clean label advantage. If you need less familiar ingredients, consider educational approaches explaining their purpose and safety.

Master Your Material Selection

Food and beverage labeling means contending with several unique challenges that may influence material selection. Temperature swings, moisture, refrigeration, direct food contact—these demand specialized substrates and adhesives.

Some category-specific considerations include:

  • Frozen foods — Adhesives that stay secure at sub-zero temps without becoming brittle
  • Refrigerated products — Materials that resist condensation and maintain readability
  • Shelf-stable products — UV resistance to prevent fading during extended retail display

Direct food contact applications require FDA-compliant materials that won’t migrate harmful substances. Work with suppliers who understand food-grade requirements and have access to the materials your industry demands.

Stand Out in Crowded Aisles

Food and beverage retail can be brutally competitive, so successful differentiation requires understanding category conventions and finding meaningful opportunities to distinguish yourself. Color strategy matters a great deal—for example, red signals spice in hot sauces, but may confuse consumers in health-focused categories where green dominates. Understanding color psychology guides strategic differentiation.

Typography for shelf impact demands bold, high-contrast fonts that improve distance readability, crucial for grocery visibility. But typography should also communicate brand personality—craft brands benefit from hand-lettered approaches, while health products may prefer clean, modern typefaces suggesting scientific credibility.

Turn Nutrition Facts into Competitive Advantage

Understanding requirements helps position products favorably while staying compliant. That mandatory Nutrition Facts panel? Smart brands can turn it into a sales tool for food and beverage labeling. Fairly recent FDA updates have created opportunities through added sugar declarations, updated serving sizes, and enhanced vitamin and mineral listings.

Strategic claims like “good source of fiber,” “low sodium,” or “high in vitamin C” will require specific nutritional thresholds, but can significantly influence purchase decisions. With this in mind, be diligent to ensure your product meets claim requirements consistently across batches. Front-of-package highlights help health-conscious consumers identify products meeting dietary preferences quickly—just make sure your claims are truthful, substantiated, and consistent with your Nutrition Facts.

Balance Costs With Growth Plans

New brands must balance quality with budget constraints while planning for scale. Initial runs involve higher per-unit costs, but strategic planning minimizes long-term expenses. When in doubt, plan for evolution. Initial labels might focus on education and trial, while established products can emphasize brand building and emotion. 

Some critical scalability considerations:

    • Design elements requiring specialized processes might become expensive at volume
    • Simple designs printing efficiently at high volume might lack premium launch appeal
    • Digital printing enables shorter runs, but may cost more per unit at higher volumes
  • Flexographic printing may prove more cost-effective and expedient for longer runs

Build for the Long Term

Try to view labeling as an evolving strategic asset, not a one-time design decision. Plan for seasonal variations, limited editions, and line extensions to maintain brand consistency while allowing customization.

Establish clear guidelines specifying:

  • Acceptable color usage variations
  • Typography hierarchies across products
  • Logo treatments and sizing standards
  • Graphic element applications

Finally, consider how you can leverage emerging tech like QR codes, NFC chips, or AR features to provide additional engagement. Just ensure enhancements support genuine benefits to the consumer, not just novelty for novelty’s sake.

Doing Food and Beverage Labeling Right

Food and beverage labeling represents one of the most regulated yet influential aspects of product marketing. New brands mastering compliance while creating distinctive, appealing labels establish strong foundations for sustainable growth. When you treat labeling as a strategic investment instead of a necessary expense you create competitive advantages to support long-term success. 

The difference between labels that work and labels that cause problems often comes down to experience—knowing which materials perform, how to balance compliance with design, and what can go wrong before it does. Systems Graphics has solved these challenges across industries for decades, with the certifications and capabilities to back it up.

Have questions about your labeling approach? Connect with our team to explore solutions that fit your specific requirements and timeline.