The 200 percent rule

Three bands

On this page11

Band one, under 200 percent Band two, 200 to 300 percent Band three, above 300 percent And a voluntary sliver at 150 to 200 percent The conversion rules sit underneath Which is a sliding scale rather than a cliff For a dosed product the unit matters twice Measured against our shelf Which is a usable shelf for all three bands And for a beverage the shelf has only one answer References

Under 200 percent, 200 to 300, and above. Three labels for one recipe.

Band one, under 200 percent

The package is a single-serving container and the entire content must be labeled as one serving. The smallest band and the one with the strongest consequence.

Band two, 200 to 300 percent

Dual-column labeling is required, showing both the per-serving and the per-unit amounts. The label carries two sets of numbers side by side.

Band three, above 300 percent

Ordinary per-serving declaration, with the serving derived from the reference amount in the usual way.

And a voluntary sliver at 150 to 200 percent

Still a single-serving container, but the dual column is permitted. A maker who wants to show both may.

The conversion rules sit underneath

Under 50 percent of the reference amount the serving is multiple whole units; 50 to 67 percent the maker may declare one or two; 67 to 200 percent the serving is one unit.

Which is a sliding scale rather than a cliff

The 200 percent line is the famous one because it changes the kind of label, but the bands below it change how many units make a serving.

For a dosed product the unit matters twice

Once as a serving for labeling, and once as a dose for the consumer. Those are the same number in a well-designed product and they are not required to be.

Measured against our shelf

For a syrup at a 30 mL reference amount: 22 of our 97 containers sit under 60 mL and are single-serving containers, 2 sit in the 60 to 90 mL dual column band, and 73 sit above it.

Which is a usable shelf for all three bands

Not a shelf that forces one outcome. If you want a single-serving syrup container we have 22, and if you want to avoid the dual column there are only 2 sizes to steer around.

And for a beverage the shelf has only one answer

The beverage reference amount is 360 mL, so 200 percent is 720. Our largest container is 473 mL. Every container on this shelf is a single-serving container for a beverage.

References

21 CFR 101.9(b)(6): "A product that is packaged and sold individually that contains less than 200 percent of the applicable reference amount must be considered to be a single-serving container, and the entire content of the product must be labeled as one serving." The same paragraph permits voluntary dual-column labeling for a product holding 150 to 200 percent of the reference amount. law.cornell.edu

21 CFR 101.9(b)(2)(i), which converts the reference amount into a declared serving. Under 50 percent of the reference amount the serving is multiple whole units; 50 to 67 percent the maker may declare one or two units; 67 to 200 percent the serving is one unit; 200 to 300 percent requires dual-column labeling showing both the per-serving and the per-unit amounts. law.cornell.edu

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. The edibles shelf is 357 rows: 97 containers and 260 closures. 30 to 473 mL with a median of 177, every container with a capacity on file. 22 under 60 mL, 2 between 60 and 90, 73 over 90. By count: 23 at 237 mL, 21 at 118, 17 at 59, 13 at 473, 6 at 177, 6 at 355, 3 at 30. 66 PP and 31 glass, with no PET, HDPE or metal. 78 jars, 12 tubs and pails, 6 bottles, 1 tube. 29 white, 24 natural, 19 clear, 11 black, 8 amber, 4 frosted, 2 blue. Closures: 164 continuous thread polypropylene lids, 39 metal or aluminum CT caps, 22 dome lids, 14 child resistant, 9 sealing discs, 6 round tub lids, 3 phenolic, 2 metal overshell lids.

Written from 21 CFR 101.9 and 101.12 and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. The serving-size rules quoted here are the federal food-labeling rules; dose caps, potency labeling, child-resistant packaging and exit packaging for a licensed cannabis edible are set state by state and nothing here describes them. Four of the reference amounts that matter on this shelf are expressed in grams and our capacity field is in millilitres, so for gummies, chocolate and baked goods our data cannot tell you which band a jar falls in.