Guide
Name and place of business on US food labels
FDA requires the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer or distributor. A city and state can be enough if the business is listed in a local directory, but a P.O. box alone, an Instagram handle, or “somewhere in California” is not a place of business.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
The short answer
FDA requires the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer or distributor. A city and state can be enough if the business is listed in a local directory, but a P.O. box alone, an Instagram handle, or “somewhere in California” is not a place of business.
Where this shows up in a real kitchen
Cottage bakers are rightly nervous about printing a home address. Some states let you use a mailing address or a registered kitchen address. FDA still wants a place a consumer or the agency can follow up. Hiding behind a logo solves nothing when a recall needs to find you.
The US rule
21 CFR 101.5: name or trade name, and place of business (street address unless it is in a directory, plus city and state). If the name is not the manufacturer, the label should say packed by or distributed by as appropriate. FDA’s labeling guide restates this next to the ingredients cluster.
How to apply it
Put the legal business name you invoice under. Add street address or a directory-listed address, city, state, ZIP. If a co-packer makes it, “Distributed by” plus your details is often the honest line. Match the name on the cottage-food permit if you have one.
- Choose manufacturer, packer or distributor — whichever is true.
- Use the legal name, not only the storefront nickname.
- Add a reachable place of business, city and state.
- Keep it in the information-panel cluster with ingredients.
Worked example
“Distributed by River & Rye LLC, 410 Oak St, Madison, WI 53703” on a granola pouch packed in a licensed incubator kitchen. The Instagram bio is not printed as the address. If the LLC later moves, leftover pouches with the old street still have to be usable or relabeled — an address is not a forever asset.
Checks that belong on this pack
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Words packed by / distributed by are accurate | Do not claim you manufactured if a co-packer did. |
| City and state are present | A ZIP without a city is a weak place of business. |
| Handle is not the address | @brand is not 21 CFR 101.5. |
| Cottage-food permit name matches the pack | Inspectors compare those strings. |
Printing only a QR code to a contact form
A form that may exist as long as you pay for the domain is not a place of business on the pack.
What LabelClear can and cannot print
UK PPDS does not always demand the FBO address on the pack. US FDA packs generally do. Add it even when the ingredients line came from the generator.
Questions
Can I use a P.O. box?
Do I need a phone number?
What about co-manufactured food?
Official sources
Everything on this page traces back to these. Where they and we disagree, they are right — tell us and we'll fix it.
- Food Labeling GuideU.S. Food and Drug Administration
- 21 CFR Part 101 — Food labelingeCFR / National Archives
- Nutrition labeling requirementsU.S. Food and Drug Administration
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