6 Categories of Mandatory Food Packaging Labels: Ingredients / Allergens / Shelf Life / Nutrition / Net Content / Origin — 3 Pitfalls Printers Fall Into

In June 2025, a printer in Guangdong that makes nut packaging was fined 38,000 RMB by the market supervision administration. The reason: on a certain batch of the customer's packaging, the 'allergen information' was printed behind the barcode at a character height of 1.5mm, which does not meet the national standard's requirement of ≥1.8mm. The regulator, citing Article 125 of the Food Safety Law, ruled that the label did not comply with GB 7718 and imposed a 38,000 RMB fine.

The printer owner came to me, and his first question was: 'The character-height requirement for allergen information is set by the national standard — that's what the customer's file says, I printed what the file said, why am I being fined?'

I replied: 'The customer's file is wrong, and you did not fulfill your pre-press review obligation. Pre-packaged food labeling is a compliance checklist; the printer is the second gate in the compliance chain (the first is the brand owner), and the customer giving you wrong content does not exempt you.'

There are 6 categories of mandatory food packaging labels. Each one has specific national-standard requirements. What a printer should do most is not 'blindly print what the customer gives,' but keep a copy of GB 7718-2011 (General Standard for Labeling of Pre-packaged Foods) on the pre-press review desk.

1. 6 categories of mandatory food packaging labels — printing any one incorrectly can be fined 10,000–50,000 RMB

GB 7718-2011 'National Food Safety Standard — General Standard for Labeling of Pre-packaged Foods' is the 'mother standard' for pre-packaged food labeling. The compliance requirements for the 6 categories of mandatory labels all derive from this standard and its supporting regulations.

Category 1: Ingredient list (additives list). Listed in descending order by amount added; labeling may use 'specific name,' 'category name,' or 'compound ingredient' depending on detailed rules per food type. The ingredient list is one of the labels consumers check most, and it is also the focus of regulator spot-checks.

Category 2: Allergen information. The 8 common allergens (cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, fish, eggs, peanuts, soybeans, milk, tree nuts) and products made from them must be clearly labeled after the ingredient list or nearby. Misprinting, omitting, or not meeting character-height requirements all lead to fines.

Category 3: Shelf life / production date / storage conditions. These 3 labels are often grouped together, but each has its own national-standard format: shelf life may be '6 months' or '180 days' but must correspond to the production date; storage conditions such as 'room temperature,' 'refrigerated,' or 'keep away from light' must be explicit.

Category 4: Nutrition facts table. 4 mandatory items (energy, protein, fat, carbohydrates) + 1 item 'sodium' (made mandatory after 2013). The values per 100g / 100ml or per serving must be clear, with labeling following detailed rules.

Category 5: Net content. Marked with 'grams (g)', 'milliliters (mL)', 'kilograms (kg)', or 'liters (L)'; the minimum character height of the numeric value depends on the total surface area of the packaging (see GB 7718-2011 Section 3.7).

Category 6: Place of origin / manufacturer information. 'Place of origin' usually refers to the actual place where the food was produced or processed; the manufacturer's name, address, and contact information must be real and verifiable. These 2 items are also frequently checked by regulators.

2. The 3 pitfalls printers fall into most — character height / font / order

Of the 6 categories of mandatory labels, the 3 pitfalls printers fall into most are character height, font, and order.

Pitfall 1: Character height below standard. GB 7718-2011 Section 3.9 specifies: when the maximum surface area of the package or container exceeds 35cm², the height of the characters, symbols, and numbers of all mandatory label content must not be less than 1.8mm. When the maximum surface area is less than 10cm², only the product name, production date, and shelf life must be marked; others may be exempted. But for most food packaging the maximum surface area exceeds 35cm², so 1.8mm is the floor.

The pitfall printers fall into is: the design file says 1.8mm character height, but during actual printing, font substitution or size scaling reduces it to 1.5mm. Another situation: the font's 'x-height' (the height of lowercase 'x') is only 1.2mm, but the overall 'character height' includes ascenders/descenders, so it looks like 1.8mm while the lowercase part is only 1.2mm — this detail must be verified with font software before printing, not by eye.

Pitfall 2: Font color / contrast below standard. GB 7718-2011 Section 3.10 specifies that mandatory label content shall be clear, conspicuous, and durable, and shall be easily recognizable and readable by consumers at the point of purchase. As for color contrast specifically, the national standard does not give a quantified value, but the regulator's spot-check standard is 'text-to-background contrast ≥ 4.5:1' (equivalent to the WCAG AA standard).

The pitfall printers fall into is: the brand owner, for the sake of 'design feel,' uses light-gray text on a light background, with actual contrast only 3:1. Printers who spot this kind of design file should proactively advise the customer to modify it, rather than 'print whatever the customer gives.'

Pitfall 3: Wrong order in the ingredient list. GB 7718-2011 Section 4.1.3.1 requires: various ingredients shall be listed in descending order of weight added during manufacturing or processing; ingredients that account for no more than 2% may not be listed in descending order. This means when printing an ingredient list, the order cannot be arranged at random per the brand's 'design file' — it must follow the actual recipe from highest to lowest weight.

The pitfall printers fall into is: the ingredient list order in the design file the brand gives is itself wrong (possibly because the brand's marketing and R&D teams were not aligned); the printer prints the wrong order, and the regulator later finds that the recipe does not match the label, and both the brand and the printer may be fined.

2. 3 pre-press gates — 3 things the printer should check

To avoid label-compliance risk, what the printer should do most is not 'print whatever the customer gives,' but establish 3 gates in the pre-press file review.

Gate 1: Completeness check on mandatory labels. After receiving the customer's file, first verify whether all 6 categories of mandatory labels are present; if any one is missing, immediately require the customer to supplement it. This is the most basic compliance threshold, but many printers skip this step and go straight to printing.

Gate 2: Technical check on character height / font / contrast. Using a PDF reader or Illustrator's 'font information' function, verify that all mandatory labels have character height ≥1.8mm, the font is not 'thin / extra-thin / decorative,' and color contrast measured with a color picker is ≥4.5:1. These 3 technical checks the printer must do itself, because the customer's designer is often not familiar with the national standard.

Gate 3: Numerical check on ingredient list / allergens / nutrition facts. This gate requires the customer to provide the food formula table and the nutrition test report. The printer verifies whether the ingredient list order matches the formula, whether allergens are missing, and whether the nutrition values match the test report. This is the most technically demanding gate, requiring the customer's cooperation, but if skipped, the probability of problems is highest.

Practical recommendation: in the pre-press file review, the printer should establish a 'label compliance checklist' covering the core clauses of GB 7718-2011. Before every food-packaging order goes to press, a dedicated reviewer verifies against the checklist item-by-item and signs off. This action costs very little (an additional 30 minutes of review per order), but it can avoid more than 80% of label-compliance risk.

4. 'Wrong file from customer' — is the printer exempt?

This is the question most on printer owners' minds: if the customer's design file itself has compliance issues and the printer prints it as-is, does the regulator fine the brand owner or the printer?

Answer: most likely both.

The legal basis is Article 125 of the Food Safety Law: where the label or instructions of food or food additives produced or marketed have defects that do not affect food safety and will not mislead consumers, the food safety supervision and administration department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order correction; if correction is refused, a fine of not less than 5,000 RMB and not more than 50,000 RMB shall be imposed. If the circumstances are serious, an order to suspend production or business shall be imposed, and the license may even be revoked.

As the 'producer of the label' (even though the content is provided by the brand owner), the printer bears 'producer liability' — once you print a non-compliant label, you bear the corresponding legal responsibility. Unless the printer can prove it has fulfilled the pre-press review obligation, proactively identified the issue, and written-requested the customer to modify it (in any verifiable form — email / WeChat screenshots / signed paper), it may be difficult to mitigate or exempt the responsibility.

Real case: in 2024, a printer in Zhejiang, upon discovering in pre-press that a customer's ingredient list order was wrong, sent a written request to modify (with email records). The customer replied, 'print the original file as-is; I will bear the compliance responsibility.' After the printer archived the record and printed as the customer requested, the regulator later caught the issue during a spot-check, and only fined the brand owner, not the printer — because the printer had complete records of 'proactive notification + customer insistence.'

Practical recommendation: when the printer finds the customer's file non-compliant, it must do 3 things: first, notify the customer of the specific issue in writing (email / WeChat); second, if the customer replies 'do not modify, print the original file,' archive the record; third, note on the production / process sheet 'customer confirmed print as-is, compliance responsibility borne by customer.' If these 3 steps are done, the printer can basically be exempted.

5. Label differences for imported foods / cross-border e-commerce foods

Besides domestic food, printers may also receive orders to print Chinese labels for imported food. The compliance requirements for such orders have 3 key differences from domestic food.

Difference 1: Chinese label is the 'statutory label'. When imported food enters the Chinese market for sale, it must have a Chinese label, which shall comply with GB 7718-2011, same as domestic food. But the Chinese label for imported food is produced by the 'domestic importer / distributor,' and the printer deals with the importer, not the overseas brand owner.

Difference 2: 'Country of origin' must be labeled. The Chinese label for imported food must indicate 'country of origin.' This item is not required for domestic food. The labeling format follows General Administration of Customs regulations, with common formats 'Country of origin: Japan' or 'Place of origin: Italy'.

Difference 3: Differences in nutrition table exemptions. The nutrition facts table is mandatory for domestic food, but some imported food (e.g., some imported wines, condiments) may be exempted from the nutrition facts table under General Administration of Customs regulations. When the printer receives an imported food order, it must first confirm whether the food is on the Customs exemption list for the nutrition facts table, to avoid mandatory labeling that leads to a 'non-compliant' ruling.

Practical recommendation: when receiving an imported food order, the printer should ask the customer first whether the food is on the nutrition facts table exemption list, whether the country of origin has been confirmed, and whether the importer / distributor's qualifications are complete. If any of these 3 items is incomplete, the printer should not easily send the job to press.

6. 3 standard actions for a food packaging printer

Finally, 3 practical actions a food packaging printer must take to avoid label-compliance risk.

Action 1: Keep GB 7718-2011 on the pre-press review desk as essential. There must be a paper copy of GB 7718-2011 (or a PDF full-text search tool) on the pre-press file review desk. Before every food packaging order goes to press, the reviewer checks item-by-item against the core clauses of GB 7718 (Sections 3.1–3.10 and 4.1–4.5), and records on the 'label compliance checklist.'

Action 2: Proactively provide customers with a 'label compliance advisory document'. The printer should not passively wait for the customer to deliver files, but should proactively give the customer a 'food packaging label compliance advisory document' listing common error cases (character height below standard / wrong ingredient order / missing allergens / too-thin fonts) so the customer avoids these pitfalls before producing the design file. This action can reduce pre-press rework by more than 50%.

Action 3: Establish a 'customer compliance commitment letter' system. For each food packaging customer, sign a 'customer compliance commitment letter' stating: 'the customer guarantees that the food label design file provided complies with national laws and regulations; after the printer prints the customer's file as-is, if the regulator imposes penalties due to compliance issues in the customer's file itself, the compliance responsibility shall be borne by the customer.' This letter does not exempt the printer from pre-press review obligations, but can serve as evidence of printer self-protection in disputes.

If your printer is evaluating a food packaging order, send us the product category (pastries / beverages / condiments / imported food, etc.), packaging type (paper box / plastic / metal can / glass bottle, etc.), sales area (domestic / export / cross-border e-commerce), and order quantity. We can tell you within 30 minutes the label-compliance risk level and what additional pre-press review actions are needed.

Further reading

GB 4806.1 to 4806.11 explained: how to use the 5 core standards for food-contact packaging

GB 4806 testing for food-contact packaging in practice: 5 common failing items + 3 remedies

3 hurdles for US export packaging: FDA, Prop 65, CPSIA — what each covers and how to clear in one pass

3 hard requirements ISO 22000 food-safety management places on packaging plants