Nutrition declaration: mandatory values, calculation and rounding
What the nutrition table must show under Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, how energy and salt are calculated and how values are rounded on the label.
The nutrition declaration, the "nutrition table", is mandatory for almost all prepacked foods. The rules are in Articles 29 to 35 and Annexes XIII, XIV and XV of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers. Rounding follows the European Commission guidance on tolerances (December 2012).
The mandatory values
The table always shows, in this order and with these names (Article 30 and Annex XV):
| Item | Unit |
|---|---|
| Energy | kJ and kcal |
| Fat | g |
| of which saturates | g |
| Carbohydrate | g |
| of which sugars | g |
| Protein | g |
| Salt | g |
You may add, only from the list of Article 30(2): mono-unsaturates and polyunsaturates, polyols, starch, fibre and certain vitamins and minerals. Fibre is the most common.
Per 100 g, and per portion only in addition
Values are always expressed per 100 g or per 100 ml of product (Article 32). The value per portion can be added, but only next to the value per 100 g and stating how much the portion weighs and how many portions the pack contains (Article 33).
Analysis or calculation
Values are averages and may come from (Article 31(4)):
- the manufacturer's analysis of the food;
- a calculation from the known or actual average values of the ingredients;
- a calculation from generally established and accepted data.
Calculating from the recipe is the most common route for small producers. The nutrients of each ingredient are added up in proportion to its weight and brought to 100 g of finished product: if the product loses water during cooking, the same nutrients are spread over a lower weight and the values per 100 g go up. Cooking loss can remove at most the water in the recipe.
You can try the calculation with the free nutrition calculator.
Energy and salt
Energy is not copied from a database: it is calculated from the nutrients with the conversion factors of Annex XIV.
| Nutrient | kJ/g | kcal/g |
|---|---|---|
| Fat | 37 | 9 |
| Carbohydrate (except polyols) | 17 | 4 |
| Protein | 17 | 4 |
| Fibre | 8 | 2 |
| Polyols | 10 | 2.4 |
| Alcohol (ethanol) | 29 | 7 |
| Organic acid | 13 | 3 |
Salt is sodium multiplied by 2.5 (Annex I, point 11), even when the sodium comes from the ingredients rather than from added salt.
How values are rounded
The Commission guidance sets how numbers are written on the label:
| Item | Value | Written as |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | any | to the nearest whole kJ and kcal |
| Fat, carbohydrate, sugars, protein, fibre | 10 g or more | to the nearest gram |
| less than 10 g and more than 0.5 g | to 0.1 g | |
| 0.5 g or less | "0 g" or "<0.5 g" | |
| Saturates | 10 g or more | to the nearest gram |
| less than 10 g and more than 0.1 g | to 0.1 g | |
| 0.1 g or less | "0 g" or "<0.1 g" | |
| Salt | 1 g or more | to 0.1 g |
| less than 1 g and more than 0.0125 g | to 0.01 g | |
| 0.0125 g or less | "0 g" or "<0.01 g" |
Round only the final value, never the intermediate values of the calculation: otherwise the errors add up.
Reference intakes (%RI)
Next to the values you may show the percentage of the reference intakes of an adult (Annex XIII, Part B): 8400 kJ / 2000 kcal of energy, 70 g of fat, 20 g of saturates, 260 g of carbohydrate, 90 g of sugars, 50 g of protein, 6 g of salt. If you show them, the table must carry the statement "Reference intake of an average adult (8400 kJ/2000 kcal)".
An example
Breadsticks with extra virgin olive oil and rosemary, calculated from the recipe:
| Nutrition declaration | Per 100 g |
|---|---|
| Energy | 1508 kJ / 358 kcal |
| Fat | 10 g |
| of which saturates | 1.5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 57 g |
| of which sugars | 1.6 g |
| Fibre | 2.0 g |
| Protein | 9.0 g |
| Salt | 1.6 g |
Fat is a whole number because it is above 10 g, saturates have one decimal because they are between 0.1 and 10 g, salt has one decimal because it is above 1 g.
How Etichettalo calculates it
Etichettalo calculates the table from the recipe, with cooking loss, the Annex XIV factors and the rounding of the guidance applied only to the final value. Ingredient values come from the suppliers' specification sheets or from the CREA and USDA databases. The manual explains how to choose the optional items and the portion.