Food labeling for US bakeries

The short answer

A US bakery labels the sealed cookies, sliced cakes and fridge packs as packaged food: name, net quantity, ingredients, the nine majors, address, and usually Nutrition Facts. The pastry under a dome, sold to eat now, is restaurant-style. Egg wash, butter and wheat are the three words bakeries still forget on the packed SKUs.

Where this shows up in a real kitchen

Morning production fills the case and the grab-and-go fridge from the same tray. Staff think one allergen matrix on the wall covers both. The wall helps the case. The fridge bags need pack particulars. Wholesale to a grocer adds Nutrition Facts pressure even if the café case never had them.

The US rule

FDA Part 101 and FALCPA for packed retail items. Menu calories if you are a covered chain. State cottage-food rules if you bake at home. USDA only if you cross into meat products (rare for sweet bakeries, real for meat pies).

How to apply it

Walk the fridge at opening. Every sealed SKU gets a pack label. Keep a US nine-allergen chart on the mixer: wheat, milk, egg, soy lecithin, sesame toppings, nut flours, peanut SKUs. Recalculate Nutrition Facts when a muffin weight drifts 20 g.

1. Split case vs sealed vs wholesale.
2. Label sealed SKUs with the US nine that are present.
3. Watch egg wash and sesame toppings.
4. Add Nutrition Facts when you leave the café-only world.

Worked example

Sealed almond croissant, 5 oz: identity, net weight, ingredients (wheat flour, butter (milk), almonds, sugar, eggs, yeast, salt), Contains: wheat, milk, almond, egg. Open croissants in the case: no pack label, staff can still say “almond, butter, wheat, egg”.

One UK Natasha’s Law ticket on a US bakery fridge bag

You may have emphasised the 14 and still omitted ounces and the bakery address.

Questions