For compliance officers and operations managers in food and beverage, label regulations are like a tab that’s always open in the background—until there’s a problem. Maybe it’s a missed allergen disclosure that catches an inspector’s attention, or a font size that’s just slightly off-spec during a routine audit. In a regulated environment where production never stops, the margin for error is razor thin—and even small details can quickly escalate into warning letters, production delays, or costly product recalls.

The rules themselves aren’t the only challenge. It’s the way they intersect: FDA versus USDA jurisdiction, evolving allergen requirements, state-level variances, and retailer-specific mandates all converge on one critical piece of packaging: your label. 

Your labels need to be accurate, legible, current, and compliant across multiple regulatory fronts—and the right labeling partner can help ensure your compliant designs are produced with the consistency and reliability your industry demands.

Want to work with a GMP-certified label partner? Contact Systems Graphics

How to Navigate Food and Beverage Label Regulations

Getting this right consistently demands operational discipline and active regulatory awareness. That’s why Systems Graphics has put together this guide—to help you understand complex food and beverage label regulations so that, by the time your label designs make it to print, they’re air-tight and ready to go. Here’s what you should know.

1. Know Your Regulator: FDA vs. USDA Oversight

One of the most common sources of confusion we see is understanding whether your specific product falls under FDA or USDA labeling authority. This distinction matters because each agency has its own requirements for placement, terminology, and approval processes.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the majority of everyday packaged food and beverages, including:

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) governs products containing more than 2% cooked meat or poultry (and certain egg products) and requires:

  • Pre-approval of label content via the Label Submission Approval System (LSAS)
  • Specific placement and wording for inspection legends and claims
  • Nutrition labeling that may differ slightly from FDA standards

If you’re operating a facility that handles both FDA- and USDA-regulated products, you’re dealing with dual compliance requirements. This means you need to segment your label templates, approval workflows, and even packaging inventory to avoid cross-contamination of regulatory approaches.

Best Practice: Create a regulatory mapping document for each product line that clearly identifies the responsible agency, required label components, approval history, etcetera. This will prove valuable during both routine audits and employee training sessions.

2. The Common Pitfalls of Allergen Labeling

Allergen-related recalls continue to dominate the FDA’s enforcement actions year by year—and most of these are completely preventable. As of 2023, under the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research Act (FASTER), manufacturers must clearly declare the presence of any of the nine major allergens: 

  • Milk
  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Shellfish
  • Tree nuts
  • Peanuts
  • Wheat
  • Soybeans
  • Sesame

Too many companies stumble on what seem like straightforward food and beverage label regulations. The most common pitfalls include:

  • Inconsistent allergen labeling across different SKUs or package sizes
  • Omitting necessary “contains” statements or using non-standard terminology
  • Confusing “may contain” (advisory) with mandatory disclosure requirements

The key here is clarity and consistency. Allergen information should be printed in bold, legible fonts and located where consumers expect to find it—typically just below the ingredient list. There’s no room for creative interpretation with allergen labeling.

Best Practice: Maintain a centralized database of allergen profiles for all your raw materials and recipes. You can use this database to generate important label content and eliminate manual entry errors that might lead to costly mistakes (or even physical danger to consumers).

3. Font Size, Layout Rules, and What Really Matters

Food labeling isn’t just about what you say, but about how you say it. The FDA’s regulation 21 CFR 101 and the USDA’s 9 CFR 317.2 set strict rules around font sizes, label hierarchy, and field of vision. For example:

  • The nutrition facts panel must use specific font sizes and spacing, depending on the label’s overall size.
  • The statement of identity must be one of the most prominent text elements on the front panel—a matter of visual hierarchy.
  • Net quantity statements must appear in the bottom 30% of the principal display panel, printed in a font height relative to package size.

Layout mistakes often happen during last-minute design adjustments or when teams are working with poorly scaled versions of approved artwork. These issues might seem minor in the design phase, but they can completely derail approval timelines or trigger enforcement actions during facility inspections.

Best Practice: Build and enforce a standardized artwork approval checklist that covers all regulatory layout elements, including field of vision checks, contrast ratios, and scaling tests across different package sizes. This will keep small errors from slipping through the cracks during late-stage adjustments.

4. Audit Readiness: Labels as a Line of Defense

Your labeling program is a fundamental part of your food safety plan—and it’s typically one of the first areas that inspectors and auditors will examine closely. Whether you’re facing a routine FDA inspection, USDA verification visit, or third-party GFSI audit, your labels need to demonstrate correct and current regulatory content, integrated traceability features like lot codes and production dates, and version-controlled approval workflows.

Auditors will often request proof that your label content accurately matches your actual product formulations, that artwork changes go through documented review processes, and that your team can trace exactly which label version was used for any given production batch. Having this information readily available can make the difference between a smooth audit and a problematic one.

Best Practice: Your team—or your labeling partner—should be leveraging a digital artwork approval system to maintain audit trails, user permissions, and comprehensive revision logs. You can integrate your label approvals directly into your GMP documentation system to streamline the inspection process.

Why a GMP-Certified Label Partner Makes a Difference

Label compliance in the food and beverage industry requires both technical precision and strategic coordination between your regulatory, operational, and design functions. Choosing a partner who understands regulated printing in food manufacturing environments can significantly reduce your risk of recalls and empower your labeling process to scale effectively with a growing product portfolio. 

At Systems Graphics, we operate under GMP protocols and provide:

  • GMP-compliant printing and handling processes for food and beverage labels
  • Quality control systems that ensure consistent reproduction of approved artwork
  • Secure handling of allergen-specific labels and serialized traceability features
  • Consistent production quality across large or variable print runs
  • Digital artwork management systems with audit trails and version control

Through our GMP-compliant label solutions, streamlined artwork management, and quality control processes grounded in industry best practices, we ensure your labels are always ready for production, inspection, and shelf placement. 

Ready to establish a labeling system that works for your operation? Contact Systems Graphics today.