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In general, food products intended for public sale must meet a minimum set of labeling requirements. In essence, the minimum label requirements are: 1) name and contact information for the manufacturer, distributor, or packer; 2) net weight of the contents; 3) product name; and 4) a list of ingredients.
For business owners producing a food product, federal, state, and local regulations and laws may all apply. Issues determining which laws apply may depend on business size, whether or not the product will be sold across state lines or internationally, nutritional claims made, and even items such as other things packaged on the same processing line (such as items processed on a line where nuts in some form are also processed).
Probably the best place to start is to visit your local and/or state health department. Two primary federal agencies involved in food labeling are the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
One final thought is that even if you are not required to have a food label on your product, the consumer market is being trained to look for and read food labels. Thus, even if not required, you may want to consider putting a label on your product.
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This resource area was created by the: Entrepreneurs & Their Communities community
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Youth Entrepreneurship
What do kids know about business? You'll be surprised!
E-Commerce Learning Modules
- Direct Marketing for Specialty Food Products. Learn strategies to direct market and sell specialty food products.
- Electronic Retailing. More and more of our communication and social behaviors involve computers and networks. Nonetheless, it is not as simple as it might appear to connect the dots on electronic retail and turn it into a successful venture.
- Going Global: A Guide for e-Commerce Expansion. A worksheet driven learning lesson for the established e-commerce business exploring export/import opportunities.
- A Primer for Hispanic Small Businesses. In both English and Spanish, this module was founded in the belief that e-commerce education should not only be available to Spanish Speaking business owners but also that small business stand to benefit greatly from the patronage of the Spanish speaking consumer.
- Marketing Food Specialty Products OnlineThe purpose of this learning module is to assist food retailers in making decisions on the use of online technologies in their marketing and planning strategies.
RESOURCES:
Build Your Business
- Online Tutorial on Farm Leasing
- Strategies to Improve Farm Business Management
- Visual Merchandising: The Silent Salesperson. View a recording of a marketing workshop conducted by Glenn Muske, Oklahoma State University. The workshop covers some key aspects of display as a sales tool. The workshop is approximately 45 minutes long.
Building Entrepreneurial Communities
- E-Commerce Module:Connecting Rural Communities
- Strengthening Competitive Advantage of Rural Businesses with e-Commerce and Experience Economy Strategies
- Mini-Course: Developing Diversified & Value-Added Agribusinesses
Blogs to Watch