If you sell prepacked food anywhere in the EU, your packaging has to satisfy Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers — usually shortened to the FIC Regulation. It’s the single rulebook that replaced a patchwork of older labelling directives, and it covers everything from how big your ingredient list text has to be to how you highlight allergens.
This guide walks through what the regulation actually requires, in the order a label designer or compliance reviewer would need it, so you can check a label against it without reading the full legal text.
Quick Answer
Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires prepacked food labels to display 12 categories of mandatory information under Article 9(1) — including the food name, full ingredient list with allergens highlighted, net quantity, durability date, storage instructions, business name and address, country of origin (where required), instructions for use, alcohol content over 1.2% ABV, and a nutrition declaration — all in a minimum legible font size.
The 12 mandatory particulars under Article 9
Article 9(1) of the Regulation lists 12 items, labelled (a) through (l), that must appear on (or be linked to, for distance sales) almost every prepacked food product: (a) the name of the food; (b) the list of ingredients; (c) any allergenic ingredient listed in Annex II; (d) the quantity of ingredients that are emphasised on the label or in the product name (QUID); (e) the net quantity; (f) the ‘best before’ or ‘use by’ date; (g) any special storage conditions or conditions of use; (h) the name and EU address of the food business operator responsible for the information; (i) the country of origin or place of provenance where required; (j) instructions for use if the food would be hard to use correctly without them; (k) the actual alcoholic strength for drinks above 1.2% ABV; and (l) a nutrition declaration.
Annex III adds extra requirements for specific product categories — for example, foods packaged in a modified atmosphere, foods with sweeteners, or foods containing caffeine above a set threshold need additional wording alongside the standard list.
Allergens, font size, and the nutrition table
Allergens are one of the most scrutinised parts of the label. Annex II lists 14 recognised allergens — cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide/sulphites, lupin, and molluscs. Wherever one of these appears as an ingredient, it must be emphasised in the ingredient list through a typeset that clearly distinguishes it from the rest of the text — bold is the most common approach, though italics, underlining, or a contrasting background colour are also used.
Legibility isn’t left to designer judgement: Article 13 sets a minimum x-height (the height of a lower-case ‘x’ in the font, defined in Annex IV) of 1.2 mm for all mandatory particulars. For very small packs, where the largest surface area is under 80 cm², the minimum drops to 0.9 mm x-height.
The nutrition declaration (Article 30) must state energy value plus the amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt, expressed per 100 g or per 100 ml. It’s normally shown as a table; if there truly isn’t room for a table, a linear (running-text) format is allowed instead. You can voluntarily add extra details — like fibre, vitamins, or minerals — but never in a way that crowds out the mandatory figures.
Tips and common mistakes
The most frequent slip-up is treating allergen emphasis as optional formatting rather than a legal requirement — if an allergen is buried in a plain-text ingredient list, that’s a compliance gap, not just a style choice. Another common error is measuring font size in points instead of x-height in millimetres; the two don’t map 1:1, so it’s worth checking the actual x-height on a printed proof, not just the point size set in the design file.
Also double-check net quantity and date marking placement — the regulation doesn’t just dictate what information appears, but requires the mandatory particulars to be grouped together within the same field of vision where practical (name, net quantity, and alcohol content specifically). And remember the country-of-origin rule now extends further than many assume: since 2020, if the country of origin shown on the label differs from the origin of the primary ingredient, the label must disclose that too.
Finally, don’t rely on the base Regulation alone for everything — allergen labelling for non-prepacked food (restaurants, bakeries, deli counters) is covered by the same Regulation but implemented through national rules in each member state, so requirements can vary by country for loose or made-to-order food.
Explore more: More EU packaging compliance guides.
EU FIC Regulation 1169/2011 FAQs
What is EU Regulation 1169/2011?
It’s the EU’s core food labelling law, officially called the Food Information to Consumers (FIC) Regulation. It sets out the mandatory information that must appear on prepacked food packaging across all EU member states, and has applied since 13 December 2014 (with the nutrition declaration requirement becoming mandatory from 13 December 2016).
Which allergens must be declared under the FIC Regulation?
Annex II lists 14: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame seeds, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin, and molluscs, along with any products derived from them.
What’s the minimum font size for food labels under 1169/2011?
Mandatory particulars need an x-height of at least 1.2 mm, or 0.9 mm if the largest package surface is smaller than 80 cm². X-height refers to the height of a lower-case letter like ‘x’, not the overall point size.
Does the FIC Regulation apply to food sold online?
Yes. For prepacked food sold via distance selling (including online), the same mandatory information must be available to the consumer before the purchase is completed, with the exception of the date of minimum durability, which can be provided at the point of delivery.
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Photo: Lord Nicolas the German (Donnus Nicholas Germanus), cartographerJohann the Blockcutter of Armsheim (Johannes Schnitzer or Johannes de Armssheim), engraver / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.