Minimum type size on a food label: the 1/16 inch rule

What the rule covers

The principal display panel is the front of the package; the information panel is the panel just to the right of it (21 CFR 101.1; 21 CFR 101.2). Required information, including the ingredient list (21 CFR 101.4), the name and place of business (21 CFR 101.5) and Nutrition Facts (21 CFR 101.9), goes on one of those two panels (101.2(b)), so it is all held to the 1/16 inch minimum.

Which letter to measure

101.2(c) applies the legibility rules of 101.7(h)(1) and (2). Under 101.7(h)(2): “Letter heights pertain to upper case or capital letters. When upper and lower case or all lower case letters are used, it is the lower case letter “o” or its equivalent that shall meet the minimum standards.” Letters may be no more than 3 times as high as they are wide (101.7(h)(1)).

So in normal mixed-case text, the lower-case “o” must be at least 1/16 inch (0.0625 in) tall. A font’s point size measures more than its lower-case letters, so you can’t read the answer off the font menu: check the printed “o”.

Big enough is not the only test

101.2(c) also applies 21 CFR 101.15. It lists reasons a required statement may lack the prominence the law requires, including: “Smallness or style of type in which such word, statement, or information appears, insufficient background contrast, obscuring designs or vignettes, or crowding with other written, printed, or graphic matter” (101.15(a)(6)). Plain dark text on a light background, with space around it, is the safe choice.

Parts of the label with larger minimums

• Net weight: from 1/16 inch up to 1/2 inch, depending on the size of the package front (21 CFR 101.7(i)). See the net weight size table.
• State cottage food statements: several states set a point size for their statement, for example California 12 point, Michigan 11 point, and Florida, Georgia and Ohio 10 point. Oregon requires every line to be at least 1/16 inch. Each state page quotes its rule.

Exemptions (narrow ones)

• Soft drink bottles have their own exemptions in 101.2(c)(1).
• Individual serving-size packages “served with meals in restaurants, institutions, and on board passenger carriers, and not intended for sale at retail” may use type as small as 1/32 inch, but only if the package has 3 square inches or less available for labeling and there isn’t room at 1/16 inch (101.2(c)(2)).
• Other small labels: FDA may set an alternative by regulation, such as a smaller type size, after a petition (101.2(f)). There is no general small-label exemption you can simply apply yourself.
• Packages under 12 square inches appear in 21 CFR 101.9(j)(13), but that is an exemption from Nutrition Facts, not from the type size of the rest of the label: “Foods in small packages that have a total surface area available to bear labeling of less than 12 square inches”, provided they make no nutrition claims. See Nutrition Facts for cottage foods.

What our label maker does

• In the 4-inch-wide PDF, every line starts at 9.6 point. The tool measures the lower-case “o” of the font your device uses and makes a line larger if its “o” would be shorter than 1/16 inch.
• Net weight and state statements print at their own larger minimums.
• It shows the printed size of your label and reminds you to print at 100% (“Actual size”). “Fit to page” or a smaller scale shrinks every letter, and can take text below 1/16 inch.
• Avery sheet PDFs never shrink text below these minimums; if a label doesn’t fit, the tool says so instead.

Check it yourself: print one label at 100% and measure a lower-case “o” with a ruler. It should be at least 1/16 inch tall.

Cottage food: your state may add rules

The rules above are federal. If you sell from a home kitchen, your state’s cottage food law decides what your label must show, and it can add its own requirements or set them differently. Several states set their own sizes for their required statement (listed above), and some ask for more, such as a contrasting color.

Always check your state page and your state agency before you print. Our state guides: Arizona · California · Florida · Georgia · Michigan · Ohio · Oregon · Texas. Another state? See cottage food labels.

Make the label

Our label maker sizes every line to at least 1/16 inch at 100% print size, and sizes the net weight and your state statement to their own minimums.

Open an example label in the toolStart a blank label

The label maker is free: clean PNG and PDF, no account, no watermark. No AI: it formats exactly what you enter, and you check the result. See more example labels, or let us do it: done-for-you labels, $39 →

Related guides

• Allergen “Contains” statementThe nine major food allergens and the two ways to declare them.
• Net weight on a food labelWhere it goes, which units, and how tall the letters must be.
• Ingredient list orderHeaviest first, sub-ingredients in parentheses, and the names to use.
• Printing labels at homeAvery 5163 and 5160 sheets, printing at 100% and a test print.
• Nutrition Facts for cottage foodsFDA’s small business exemptions and when claims change things.
• Printable label checklistOne-page PDF checklists for 12 states and a general one.
• What goes on a food labelThe federal basics in one checklist.
• All guidesState rules, label basics and examples.

Sources

Last checked October 21, 2026. We read each of these official sources; quotes on this page are copied from them. Regulation text is from the eCFR (up to date as of October 19, 2026).

• 21 CFR 101.2: information panel and type size (101.2(c), (f))
• 21 CFR 101.7(h): letter height measured on the lower case “o”
• 21 CFR 101.15: prominence of required statements
• 21 CFR 101.9(j)(13): small package Nutrition Facts exemption
• 21 CFR 101.1: principal display panel

This page explains federal rules in plain English. It is not legal advice, and FDA does not approve labels. Found something wrong? Contact us · How we verify