Wanna a Whole Lotta Label…
In a big hurry?
Download the Editable Nutrition Label File
(Updated 9-23-11 with Even More Samples!)
Got more time? Then keep reading.
I remember making my first nutritional facts label. I didn’t know where to start so I started in the kitchen. I picked out a similar food to see how someone else did it. I figured if a major food company was doing it like that, then I could too.
It didn’t look that hard – fonts were Helvetica or Arial and you just put things in columns with alternating thick and thin horizontal lines – pretty basic stuff. And it really wasn’t that hard, until my clients gave me all sorts of unusual packages and even more unusual products that needed some kick-ass product packaging.
I started learning about what the FDA says you can and cannot do as well as utilizing their excellent samples to match just about any design problem. The FDA has really done their homework on this one. They make it really easy to adapt their recommendations to just about any packaging challenge.
So now I’m sharing what I’ve learned and providing you this Illustrator editable vector PDF nutritional label template sample pack to get you started. All of these labels were taken from product packages that I designed and are currently on the market so I know they work. They cover the three basic types of nutrition label challenges – the “small overloaded label”, the “we don’t need to put everything in just the basics” and the “we have no more room so just make it fit somehow”.
Download the Nutrition Label File
The samples were taken from WildBar , GourmetMist and DoGoodie brownies.
Helpful Resources
Cool Free Online Nutritional Panel Generator
Note: After generating the panel save page as PDF (you do this by printing the page and then choosing PDF from the drop down menu of available printers). The file will be editable in Illustrator except for the heading (a bitmap image) which you will need to replace. The program also automatically generates the DV percentages based upon a 2,000 calorie diet. Sweet!
Great FREE Editable Nutrition Facts Label Template
This one may even be better than mine because it has detailed specs and justifications on why you do what you do.
This one is provided by Walle Packaging.
FDA Nutritional Labeling Guidelines
Don’t make a nutritional panel without it.
USDA National Nutrient Database
Nutrient profiles for nearly every food in the world.
File Under: Learn About FDA Nutrition Facts Label Requirements – How to Design a Nutrition Facts Label – Creating a Nutrition Facts Label – Free PDF Illustrator Nutrition Facts Label Template – Make a Nutrition Facts Table
kaya
1 year ago
very useful! thanx for sharing!
Laveen
1 year ago
Honestly, I needed a generator for the label making for a school project. The shop n’ cook thing does not work- anyway you can make it better? Other wise thank you for the attempt
Clay (The BDD Dude
1 year ago
You’re right. Just tested it and it seemed to be getting a 502 server error.So I sent the developer a message and he told me he’s having server issues and will be worked out shortly.
However, it’s not my application so I can’t improve upon it. Someone else developed it. I just linked to it because it’s pretty awesome (when it’s working).
In the meantime you (or someone else) should be able to easily edit my label template in Illustrator to make your template.
Mercedes
1 year ago
not what i needed. i need site that tels you how to make a nutrition label, not one that does it for you!
Clay (The BDD Dude)
1 year ago
So I guess links to the FDA nutritional label guidelines, the FDA nutrient database to instantly generate nutritional profiles for any food in any amount down to a single gram, plus an editable PDF file with three different templates to use isn’t enough? Other than a psychic link that spoons feeds my knowledge directly into your brain I don’t know what else would help you.
Da Man
16 hours ago
Thanks!
The psychic spoon worked just fine for me.
Wow, so much easier than actually reading…
ana
1 year ago
I am trying to download the illustrator editable document …… but am only being able to access the a jpg am i doing something wrong? Help this is exactly what i need!
Heather
11 months ago
I must be doing something wrong, or jsut don’t quite get it. I can’t figure out how to get the border and thick lines to paste into my document. Am I meant to get those, or do I have to figure out how to create them? I tried some of the other links,but couldn’t get the snipping tool, and had the same sort of issue with those other programs, in not getting the border, etc.
Thanks so much,
Heather
Clay (The BDD Dude)
11 months ago
I suspect you aren’t using Illustrator. These are illustrator editable PDF files. What program are you trying to use?
Heather
10 months ago
Oh, I see (we emailed a bit offline), yes, I don’t have Illustrator, which I wasn’t even experienced enough to realize, so of course I can’t edit it, DUH! Thanks for your patience. I did cobble something together with WORD (wow, THAT was time-consuming) which is not completely up to snuff, but is working for my purposes for now…
Thanks again
Christopher
4 months ago
Thank you so much, Clay!
However, I too am not able to copy/paste the entire vector into illustrator. I DO have Adobe Illustrator CS5.
Do you happen to know why I can only copy the text, and not the actual structure of the nutritional labels?
Thank you in advance for any assistance.
Christopher
Clay (The BDD Dude)
4 months ago
You need to download the file and then open it in Illustrator. It’s an illustrator editable PDF – meaning it’s actually no different than an AI file as far as Illustrator is concerned.
Christopher
4 months ago
Worked!
Thank you so much!
It took several steps to open it in Illustrator which were not obvious to me:
1) When the Adobe Reader file opens (after clicking the link),
save it to Desktop
2) Right click on the icon and ‘Open with’… (Choose a Program)
3) ‘Browse’ to add Adobe Illustrator to the list of programs
available to open things with
4) Open it with Illustrator
I’m new to this. The vectors are exactly what I needed.
Thanks again for the help and for your patience with the repeat question.
Cheers.
Clay (The BDD Dude)
4 months ago
Great. You also just downloaded the updated PDF file. I added another nutrition panel style and also made it easier to edit.
Here’s two other methods of saving and opening:
Click link to open in browser then save to desktop (or folder of your choice). Then open Illustrator and choose “File > Open” and then open it directly in Illustrator
or
Right click hyperlink to PDF and choose “save link as”. Save to folder of your choice. Open Illustrator, then open PDF file.
Erik
11 months ago
Hey Clay, thanks for the file, just what the doctor ordered. But, I too am a bit miffed that when I opened it, it didn’t already have my logo and nutritional data in it…what’s up with that? …kidding. Can’t please everybody I suppose
Clay (The BDD Dude)
11 months ago
Thanks. Your comment brightened my day.
Andrea
10 months ago
Thanks for sharing, this is just what I needed for a new project.
ryan lail
10 months ago
what is the cross on the nutrition fact lables
Clay (The BDD Dude)
10 months ago
Not sure what you mean. I double checked and didn’t see a cross anywhere. Please explain.
Matt
10 months ago
What you really need for this process is a client who doesn’t keep changing the values over and over again
Austin
9 months ago
I don’t see a cross but I do see Mary…weeping. Thanks for the valuable information.
said
8 months ago
hello there,i would like edit & print the fda approved nutration table.
i tried to edit on this site,but i couldn’t.pls help me on that.
thanx
Clay (The BDD Dude)
8 months ago
I’ll say this one more time. The file is an Illustrator editable PDF file. You need Illustrator to edit it.
Lydia
8 months ago
This was a great tool! I printed out nutrition labels in about 2 minutes, and they look very professional. Thanks!
Scott
5 months ago
FYI… for Canadians who may have found this blog, here’s the Canadian page about food labelling and regulations:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/guide/toce.shtml
Jacqui
5 months ago
Thank you! Helped a lot today to jam out a nice package design.
Katherine
4 months ago
Thank you Clay, this is very helpful!
Brett
3 months ago
Thanks for the info. Was about to throw in the towel and take up ditch-digging…
brian
2 months ago
hi i want to make a nutritional label for a dry pastry mix but also to include the “prepared” nutritionals as well. do you have any tips or software for this? thanks, brian
Clay (The BDD Dude)
2 months ago
What you do for prepared nutritionals is you just create another column of percentages. In the top you put “Dry Mix” and then a few spaces over you put “As Prepared”. So the panel is all the same it just has two columns of percentages. You don’t need to put additional info about the grams of fat, carbs, etc. for the prepared column. Go check out the muffin/cupcake/cake isle of the grocery store and you’ll see.
Emmanuel
2 months ago
Thank you! Your blog is awesome!
Tyler
1 month ago
Clay, just wanted to let you know I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through this blog. I used to work tech support so I know where your coming from in having to repeat the same answer to the same question over and over. Anyway, didn’t have a problem with the file everything seemed to work perfectly. Just figured I’d let you know I got a good kick out of reading this.