Which nutrients are mandatory on a Nutrition Facts panel?

Calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, total sugars, added sugars, protein, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium. Vitamins A and C stopped being mandatory in the 2016 rule; vitamin D and potassium became mandatory in their place. Vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium must appear in that order under 21 CFR 101.9(c)(8)(ii).

Which nutrients carry a percent Daily Value and which do not?

Total sugars has no Daily Value, so its %DV column is blank. Trans fat has none either. Protein's %DV is optional under 21 CFR 101.9(c)(7)(i) and is normally omitted, because declaring it triggers a PDCAAS protein-quality calculation. Everything else on a standard panel carries one.

Why does my panel say 'less than 1g'?

Because 21 CFR 101.9(c)(6) offers it as the declaration for an amount between 0.5 and 1 gram, in preference to rounding it to 1 g and overstating, or to 0 g and understating. Cholesterol has an equivalent: between 2 and 5 mg it may be declared as 'less than 5 mg'. In both cases this generator computes the %DV from the true amount rather than from the threshold, which the regulation expressly permits.

Is the trans fat line required if there is no trans fat?

Yes — declare it as 0 g. 21 CFR 101.9(c)(2)(ii) only lets you omit the line if you instead print 'Not a significant source of trans fat' at the bottom of the table, which takes up more space than the line does.

Does a nutrition facts generator make my product compliant?

No. It applies the format and arithmetic rules correctly to the data it is given. Compliance is judged against the food in the package, using the analytical procedures in 21 CFR 101.9(g). A generator can get the rules right and still be wrong about your product if the composition data does not describe it.

Every rule, named

Nutrition facts generator

This nutrition facts generator does not just produce a panel — it tells you which sentence of 21 CFR 101.9 produced each number on it. Below is a no-bake batch of peanut butter energy balls, fully declared, with the paragraph reference beside every amount and every percentage. No sign-up, no metering, six formats, print-resolution export.

No sign-up. No watermark. No limit.

Ingredient and allergen statements

INGREDIENTS: Peanut butter, Rolled oats, Honey, Semisweet chocolate chips, Chia seeds, Vanilla extract.

Contains: Peanuts.

Peanuts

Show the arithmetic

Nutrient

Protein contributed by each ingredient
Ingredient	Weight	Per 100 g	Contributes
Peanut butter	258.0 g	22.21 g	57.30 g
Rolled oats	234.0 g	16.89 g	39.52 g
Chia seeds	24.0 g	16.54 g	3.97 g
Semisweet chocolate chips	86.5 g	4.20 g	3.63 g
Honey	169.5 g	0.30 g	0.51 g
Vanilla extract	4.2 g	0.06 g	0.00 g
Whole recipe			104.94 g

104.94 g ÷ 18 servings = 5.830 g per serving

1 g and above rounds to the nearest 1 g increment. → declared as 6g (101.9(c)(7))

Incomplete USDA data: Rolled oats, Honey, Chia seeds, Semisweet chocolate chips. Missing values are treated as zero, which can understate a nutrient. Vitamin D is the usual gap.

Every declaration on this panel, with its paragraph

One row per nutrient. The unrounded per-serving amount, the branch of the rule that fired, the paragraph it comes from, and what is printed. This is the whole product, laid out flat.

Each nutrient, the rule applied, and the CFR paragraph
Nutrient	Unrounded	Declared	Rule applied	Paragraph
Calories	195.13	200	Above 50 calories rounds to the nearest 10-calorie increment.	101.9(c)(1)
Total Fat	10.11	10	5 g and above rounds to the nearest 1 g increment.	101.9(c)(2)
Saturated Fat	2.54	2.5	0.5 g up to 5 g rounds to the nearest 0.5 g increment.	101.9(c)(2)(i)
Trans Fat	0.01	0	Under 0.5 g of fat is declared as zero.	101.9(c)(2)(ii)
Cholesterol	0.00	0	Under 2 mg of cholesterol may be declared as zero.	101.9(c)(3)
Sodium	3.84	0	Under 5 mg of sodium is declared as zero.	101.9(c)(4)
Total Carbohydrate	23.23	23	1 g and above rounds to the nearest 1 g increment.	101.9(c)(6)
Dietary Fiber	2.86	3	1 g and above rounds to the nearest 1 g increment.	101.9(c)(6)(i)
Total Sugars	11.89	12	1 g and above rounds to the nearest 1 g increment.	101.9(c)(6)(ii)
Added Sugars	10.35	10	1 g and above rounds to the nearest 1 g increment.	101.9(c)(6)(iii)
Protein	5.83	6	1 g and above rounds to the nearest 1 g increment.	101.9(c)(7)
Vitamin D	0.00	0	Rounds to zero at this level of significance.	101.9(c)(8)(iii)
Calcium	24.59	25	Declared to the whole unit given in the (c)(8)(iv) table.	101.9(c)(8)(iii)
Iron	1.16	1	Declared to the whole unit given in the (c)(8)(iv) table.	101.9(c)(8)(iii)
Potassium	163.96	164	Declared to the whole unit given in the (c)(8)(iv) table.	101.9(c)(8)(iii)

The two percentage rules on one panel

A Nutrition Facts panel uses two different rounding rules for its percentages, and which one applies depends on which Daily Value table the nutrient sits in. Macronutrients have Daily Reference Values in 21 CFR 101.9(c)(9) and go to whole percents. Vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium have Reference Daily Intakes in 101.9(c)(8)(iv) and go to 2, 5 and 10 percent increments by level.

“The percentages for vitamins and minerals shall be expressed to the nearest 2-percent increment up to and including the 10-percent level, the nearest 5-percent increment above 10 percent and up to and including the 50-percent level, and the nearest 10-percent increment above the 50-percent level.”

21 CFR 101.9(c)(8)(iii)

“A listing of the percent of the DRV … shall be given in a column aligned under the heading “% Daily Value” … with the percent expressed to the nearest whole percent for each nutrient declared … for which a DRV has been established.”

21 CFR 101.9(d)(7)(ii)

Getting this backwards is the most common defect in free label tools, and it is checkable against FDA’s own artwork: the sample label in 21 CFR 101.9(d)(12) declares Iron 8 mg at 45%. Eight over eighteen is 44.4%, which whole-percent rounding turns into 44%. Only the 5-percent increment gives 45. Every case is worked through on the FDA rounding rules page.

Frequently asked questions

Which nutrients are mandatory on a Nutrition Facts panel?: Calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, total sugars, added sugars, protein, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium. Vitamins A and C stopped being mandatory in the 2016 rule; vitamin D and potassium became mandatory in their place. Vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium must appear in that order under 21 CFR 101.9(c)(8)(ii).
Which nutrients carry a percent Daily Value and which do not?: Total sugars has no Daily Value, so its %DV column is blank. Trans fat has none either. Protein's %DV is optional under 21 CFR 101.9(c)(7)(i) and is normally omitted, because declaring it triggers a PDCAAS protein-quality calculation. Everything else on a standard panel carries one.
Why does my panel say 'less than 1g'?: Because 21 CFR 101.9(c)(6) offers it as the declaration for an amount between 0.5 and 1 gram, in preference to rounding it to 1 g and overstating, or to 0 g and understating. Cholesterol has an equivalent: between 2 and 5 mg it may be declared as 'less than 5 mg'. In both cases this generator computes the %DV from the true amount rather than from the threshold, which the regulation expressly permits.
Is the trans fat line required if there is no trans fat?: Yes — declare it as 0 g. 21 CFR 101.9(c)(2)(ii) only lets you omit the line if you instead print 'Not a significant source of trans fat' at the bottom of the table, which takes up more space than the line does.
Does a nutrition facts generator make my product compliant?: No. It applies the format and arithmetic rules correctly to the data it is given. Compliance is judged against the food in the package, using the analytical procedures in 21 CFR 101.9(g). A generator can get the rules right and still be wrong about your product if the composition data does not describe it.