What the label must carry
Updated
The four
Four elements are required and each has rules about where it goes and how large it is. None of this is a design choice, which is the useful thing to establish before handing anything to a designer.
- Statement of identity. The standard name if you meet the standard, an informative name if you do not.
- Net quantity of contents. By weight, and its placement on the panel is specified rather than free.
- Ingredient list. In descending order by weight. A standardized food still declares its ingredients.
- Name and address of the manufacturer, packer or distributor.
Weight, not volume
The declaration is by weight for this product, and jam is denser than water, so the figure is not the number on the jar. Weighing the actual product into the actual jar is the only way to get it right.
A jam is sold by weight and a jar is sized by volume, and the two are not the same number. The label declares the weight of product, so the jar you buy has to hold that weight. That arithmetic is on what size jar for a pound of jam and it is the most common reason a first order of jars is wrong.
Nutrition labeling
Whether this applies depends on your size and your channel rather than on the product, and the thresholds are worth checking before assuming either way.
Requirements come from the labeling regulation, and small producers selling directly are frequently exempt. The exemption has conditions attached, including sales volume and employee count, so it is a threshold to check rather than a rule to assume.
What the state adds
Federal requirements are the floor and several states add a disclosure on top, usually with its own rules about placement and type size.
Whether you need a license, whether you may sell wholesale, and what disclosure the label must carry if you are selling under an exemption. Those are state questions and they are on cottage food and jam.