What federal law requires on the label

A cleaning product label carries more mandatory content than anything else in this estate, and it comes from three places at once.

Two federal layers, plus one state

Consumer commodity labeling: identity, net quantity, and who is responsible.

Cautionary labeling under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, if the product contains a hazardous substance, which most effective cleaners do.

And California's ingredient disclosure, which has its own page because it also requires a website.

A fourth applies only if you have crossed into pesticide territory, in which case the EPA-approved label replaces this conversation entirely.

The consumer commodity items

Identity. What it is, on the principal display panel. "All-purpose cleaner", "glass cleaner".

Net quantity of contents, by volume for a liquid, with metric alongside.

Name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer or distributor.

Cautionary labeling under the FHSA

Where the product contains a hazardous substance, 16 CFR Part 1500 requires a defined set of elements:

A signal word, DANGER, WARNING or CAUTION, according to the degree of hazard.

A statement of the principal hazard.

Precautionary measures, telling the user what to do and not do.

First aid instructions where appropriate.

Keep out of the reach of children.

And the name and address of the responsible firm.

This is the layer small makers most often miss, because a home-made cleaner does not feel like a hazardous substance. Whether it is one depends on the formula, not on the scale.

What forces a reprint

A reformulation that changes the hazard classification or the ingredient list.

A new size, which changes the net quantity statement.

Crossing a child-resistant packaging threshold, which changes the closure and frequently the artwork.

Beginning to sell into California, which adds the ingredient disclosure.

And an address change, which is the ordinary one that catches everybody.

References