How to order an ingredient list: FDA rules
FDA’s rule for ingredient lists is 21 CFR 101.4: every ingredient by its common or usual name, heaviest first. Here is how to order the list, how to show ingredients that are made of other ingredients, and which names to use for spices, flavors, oils and more.
The core rule (21 CFR 101.4(a)(1))
shall be listed by common or usual name in descending order of predominance by weight
Heaviest ingredient first, lightest last, using everyday names.
Last checked against the official text. Sources
Order by weight, heaviest first
“Descending order of predominance by weight” means the ingredient that weighs the most comes first. Weigh with a kitchen scale rather than ordering by cups or spoons. The list goes on the principal display panel or the information panel (the panel just to the right of it) (101.4(a)(1); 21 CFR 101.2).
Worked example
The fictional chocolate chip cookies from our examples, one batch:
| Ingredient | Weight in the batch |
|---|---|
| semisweet chocolate chips | 340 g |
| enriched flour | 280 g |
| butter | 225 g |
| brown sugar | 200 g |
| eggs | 100 g |
| vanilla extract | 8 g |
| baking soda | 6 g |
| salt | 5 g |
Sorted by weight, with sub-ingredients in parentheses:
Ingredients: semisweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, milkfat, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), butter (cream, salt), brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract (vanilla bean extractives in water, alcohol), baking soda, salt.
This is the line our label maker prints for this example. Open it in the tool.
The 2% exception
Ingredients at 2% or less by weight don’t have to be in order if they are grouped at the end after a statement such as “Contains __ percent or less of ______” or “Less than __ percent of ______”. The blank is 2%, or 1.5%, 1.0% or 0.5% if you prefer, and no ingredient in the group may be above that level (101.4(a)(2)).
Showing percentages
If you show an ingredient’s percentage, put it in parentheses after the name, as percent by weight, to the nearest 1% (101.4(e)).
Sub-ingredients in parentheses
For an ingredient that is itself made of two or more ingredients and has an established common or usual name, such as butter or chocolate chips you buy, 101.4(b)(2) gives two choices:
- Its name, “followed by a parenthetical listing of all ingredients contained therein in descending order of predominance” (101.4(b)(2)(i)). Example: “butter (cream, salt)”.
- Or leave out the ingredient’s name and list each of its components in their place in the whole list, by weight in the finished food (101.4(b)(2)(ii)).
Copy the sub-ingredients from the label of the product you buy. If one of them is a major allergen, it still needs to be declared: see the allergen “Contains” guide.
Use specific, common names
“The name of an ingredient shall be a specific name and not a collective (generic) name”, with exceptions for spices, flavorings, colorings and chemical preservatives (101.4(b), (b)(1)). Some names 101.4(b) allows or requires:
- Dairy and eggs: milk, concentrated milk, reconstituted milk and dry whole milk may be declared as “milk” (b)(4); skim milk forms as “skim milk” or “nonfat milk” (b)(3); whey forms as “whey” (b)(7); cream forms as “cream” (b)(8); dried, frozen and liquid whole eggs as “eggs” (b)(10), egg whites as “egg whites” (b)(11) and egg yolks as “egg yolks” (b)(12).
- Fats and oils: each by its specific name, such as “cottonseed oil”. Blends may be listed as “blend of ______ oils” or “______ shortening” with each fat or oil named in parentheses, e.g. “vegetable oil shortening (soybean and cottonseed oil)” (b)(14).
- Leavening: may be listed as “leavening” followed by each agent in parentheses, e.g. “leavening (baking soda, monocalcium phosphate, and calcium carbonate)” (b)(16).
- Sugar means sucrose from sugar cane or sugar beets (b)(20).
- Flour: when all the ingredients of a wheat flour are listed, the first one is named “flour”, “white flour”, “wheat flour” or “plain flour” for flour, bromated flour, enriched flour or self-rising flour; “durum flour” for durum flour; “whole wheat flour”, “graham flour” or “entire wheat flour” for whole wheat flour (b)(15).
Spices, flavorings and salt
From 21 CFR 101.22:
- “Spice” is allowed. “Spice, natural flavor, and artificial flavor may be declared as “spice”, “natural flavor”, or “artificial flavor”, or any combination thereof” (101.22(h)(1)).
- Onion, garlic and celery are not spices. The definition of spice excludes substances “traditionally regarded as foods, such as onions, garlic and celery” (101.22(a)(2)). Garlic powder, onion powder and celery powder are declared by their common names (101.22(h)(3)).
- Spices that also color: “Paprika, turmeric, and saffron or other spices which are also colors, shall be declared as “spice and coloring” unless declared by their common or usual name” (101.22(a)(2)).
- Salt is “salt” (101.22(h)(4)).
- Allergens in a spice blend must still be declared, even when the blend is listed as “spices”: see the allergen guide.
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. Our state pages for California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio require ingredients in descending order of predominance by weight. Oregon’s rule says by weight or volume, and Arizona’s asks for all ingredients. Our Texas page doesn’t list an ingredient list among Texas’s required elements, though it does require major food allergens; ask your state agency what applies to you.
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 sorts your ingredients by the weights you enter (or keeps your order if you choose), adds sub-ingredients in parentheses, and drafts the allergen line. The example opens the cookies from the worked example above.
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Sources
Last checked . 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); U.S. Code text is the 2023 edition on govinfo.
- 21 CFR 101.4: designation of ingredients
- 21 CFR 101.22: spices, flavorings, colorings and chemical preservatives
- 21 CFR 101.2: information 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