Most marketplace food listings are not removed because the product is bad. They are removed because a label is missing a particular, an allergen is named in the ingredient list but not emphasised, a nutrition table is absent where it was required, or the pack shows a claim that is not authorised. The product in the box is fine. The information around it is not, and in EU food law the information is part of the product.
This guide covers what an online seller has to get right before the first unit ships: who the legally responsible operator is (usually you, not your supplier), what the label must carry, how allergens and nutrition are handled, what language rules apply market by market, how lot marking and traceability work, and what distance selling adds on top. It is written for sellers placing packaged food on EU markets through their own store or a marketplace.
The uncomfortable first point: you are probably the food business operator
Under Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers — the FIC Regulation — the operator responsible for food information is the one under whose name or business name the food is marketed. If that operator is not established in the Union, responsibility falls to the importer into the Union market.
Read that twice, because it settles the question most new sellers get wrong. If you buy a product from a producer outside the EU, put your brand on it and sell it in Germany, you are the food business operator (FBO) for that product and, in most arrangements, the importer of record as well. Your supplier manufactures to your specification and supplies data; your name on the pack is what a market surveillance authority reads. A contract can allocate cost and blame between you and your producer, but it does not move the public-law duty off the operator named on the label.
Three practical consequences follow.
Your business name and an address must appear on the pack. Not a website, not a marketplace storefront — a name and address at which the operator can be reached.
You must be able to answer questions about the product. Composition, origin of ingredients, allergen controls, shelf-life basis, batch records. If you cannot obtain that from your supplier, you cannot discharge your own duty, which is why supplier documentation is a compliance question and not just a quality one. Our guide to reading a certificate of analysis covers what to insist on.
You approve the artwork. A producer will print what you send. Approval is your signature, and the mistakes below are almost always signed off by the seller, not invented by the factory.
The mandatory particulars, and who actually supplies each
Article 9 of the FIC Regulation lists the particulars that must appear on prepacked food. The useful way to read the list is not "what must be on the pack" but "who in my supply chain produces this information, and have I asked them for it".
| Label element | Mandatory? | Who provides it |
|---|---|---|
| Name of the food | Always | Seller decides the legal name; supplier confirms it describes the actual product |
| List of ingredients, in descending order by weight | Always for multi-ingredient foods | Supplier supplies the exact recipe breakdown; seller transcribes it faithfully |
| Allergens emphasised within the ingredient list | Always where an Annex II allergen is present | Supplier declares presence and cross-contact risk; seller sets the typographic emphasis |
| QUID — quantity of a highlighted ingredient | Where an ingredient is emphasised in the name or by image | Supplier gives the percentage; triggered by the seller's own marketing choices |
| Net quantity | Always | Supplier confirms the fill weight and tolerance |
| Date of minimum durability or "use by" | Always | Supplier sets it from shelf-life data; printed at production |
| Storage conditions / conditions of use | Where needed for correct keeping or use | Supplier, based on the product |
| Name and address of the responsible FBO | Always | Seller — this is your business |
| Country of origin or place of provenance | Where omission could mislead, or where sector rules require | Shared: supplier states origin, seller judges the misleading test |
| Instructions for use | Where the food is hard to use appropriately without them | Seller drafts, supplier validates |
| Nutrition declaration | Always, unless an Annex V exemption applies | Supplier provides analysis or a calculated value; seller lays out the table |
| Lot / batch identification | Always (lot marking rules) | Supplier prints at fill; seller records it against inbound stock |
Two entries on that list catch sellers out repeatedly.
QUID is triggered by your own copy. If the name or the front-of-pack image emphasises an ingredient — "with apple pieces", a photograph of rosehips — you generally have to state that ingredient's percentage. Sellers add marketing language after the specification is fixed and create a QUID obligation without noticing.
Country of origin is contextual. There is no blanket duty to state origin on every food, but where the presentation would otherwise mislead a consumer as to the true origin, it must be given. Designing a pack around one country's imagery while the ingredient comes from elsewhere is the classic way to trip this.
Minimum type size matters too: the mandatory particulars have a prescribed minimum x-height, and packages with a small largest surface get a lower threshold rather than an exemption. Designers routinely shrink the back panel to fit a story paragraph. The retail-ready packaging and EU labelling guide walks through each element in artwork terms.
Allergens: presence, emphasis and the honest limits of "may contain"
Allergen information is where enforcement is least forgiving, because the consequence of getting it wrong is not a fine but a person in hospital.
The substances concerned are listed in Annex II of the FIC Regulation. On prepacked food they must be indicated in the ingredient list and emphasised so they stand out from the surrounding text — typically bold, but capitals, contrasting colour or a different typeface can serve. Emphasis is not optional garnish; an allergen buried in an unformatted list is a non-compliant label even though the word is present.
Two further points that apply directly to sourcing:
Cross-contact is a factory fact you must ask about. Precautionary wording is not a substitute for knowing your producer's controls. Ask which allergens are handled on the same line, what the cleaning validation between products is, and whether your run is scheduled after an allergen-containing product. That is a question about changeover discipline as much as hygiene, and it is one of the things worth checking when you choose a supplier and assess minimum runs.
Sulphites are the one most dried-fruit sellers meet first. Sulphur dioxide and sulphites above the declarable threshold must be labelled, and the presence or absence of them shapes both your ingredient list and your positioning; the sulphites and sorbates labelling guide covers how this works in practice.
Nutrition declaration: required more often than sellers expect
The mandatory nutrition declaration covers energy value together with fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt, expressed per 100 g or per 100 ml. Additional per-portion presentation is permitted alongside, not instead.
Annex V of the FIC Regulation exempts certain foods, and two exemptions are relevant to natural-product sellers: unprocessed products comprising a single ingredient or category of ingredients, and herbal and fruit infusions and teas that contain no added ingredients other than flavourings which do not modify the nutritional value. This is why a plain single-herb infusion can often be sold without a nutrition table while a blend containing dried fruit pieces, a sweetener or any other nutritionally relevant addition cannot.
Do not assume the exemption without checking your actual recipe against it, and note that voluntary nutrition information, once given, must follow the same rules on content and presentation as a mandatory declaration.
Language: one product, several markets, several labels
Article 15 requires mandatory particulars to appear in a language easily understood by consumers in the Member States where the food is marketed, and Member States may require their own official language.
For a cross-border online seller this has a blunt practical meaning. Listing a German-labelled product to French or Italian consumers is a compliance gap, not a shipping detail, and marketplaces that let you list pan-EU do not thereby make a single-language label sufficient. Your options are the usual three:
- Multilingual packs. One artwork carrying two to four languages. Cheapest at scale, but the back panel fills quickly and the type-size minimum still applies to every language version.
- Market-specific artwork. Cleanest to read, but each artwork is a separate print setup — a real cost driver on small runs.
- Overlabelling. A compliant local-language label applied over or alongside the original. Legitimate, common in distribution, and operationally tedious; it also has to be durable and must not obscure other mandatory information.
Decide this before the first print run, because it changes your artwork count, your minimum order quantity and your unit cost together.
Lot marking and traceability
Every batch must carry an indication identifying the lot to which it belongs, under the EU lot marking rules, and separately EU general food law requires operators to be able to identify who supplied them and to whom they supplied — the one-step-back, one-step-forward principle.
For an online seller, that translates into a small number of habits that cost nothing if built in at the start and are painful to reconstruct later: record the lot numbers of every inbound consignment against the purchase order and the supplier's batch documents; keep the certificate of analysis for each lot; if you use a 3PL or a marketplace fulfilment network, know whether their receiving process captures lot data, because many treat units as fungible; and be able to identify which lots went into which sales periods so a withdrawal can be scoped rather than blanket. The EU food traceability guide sets out the record structure in more detail.
The test is simple: if a supplier notified you of a problem with one batch tomorrow, could you say how many units of it you sold and stop the rest within a day? If not, that is the gap to close first.
Distance selling adds a step: information before the purchase
Article 14 of the FIC Regulation addresses food sold at a distance. In broad terms, the mandatory food information — with the exception of the date of minimum durability or use-by date — must be available before the purchase is concluded, on the material supporting the distance sale or by other appropriate means, without the seller charging extra for it. All mandatory particulars must then be available at the moment of delivery.
In practice this means your product listing has to carry the label content, not just marketing copy and photographs. A legible image of the actual back panel plus a transcribed ingredient list, allergen emphasis, net quantity, nutrition table where required and your business name and address is the workable standard. Separately, consumer contract law governs the right of withdrawal, and sealed foodstuffs and goods liable to deteriorate quickly are treated differently from general goods — worth checking for your specific product before you write your returns policy.
Marketplace policies sit on top of all of this: platforms impose their own requirements on food listings, remaining shelf life at receiving, packaging and documentation, and those rules change frequently. Always check the platform's current policy rather than relying on what was true last season or on advice in a seller forum.
The claims line: what you may not say, and why that protects you
Statements suggesting that a food or an ingredient improves health — supports immunity, aids digestion, helps sleep, assists weight management — are regulated under Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods, and are only permitted where authorised. Botanicals sit in a long-standing special situation, and the fact that competitors make such claims is not a defence; it usually just means they have not been reported yet.
This applies to your listing text, your product photography, your ads and your social posts, not only to the printed pack. Build the copy around what the product verifiably is — origin, variety, harvest year, ingredient proportions, cut and grade, aroma and taste, brewing method, shelf life, packaging format. In our experience that language also converts better than a health claim experienced shoppers have learned to distrust.
A short pre-launch check
Before the first print run, confirm: you know who the FBO is and the address is correct; the ingredient list matches the actual recipe and allergens are emphasised; QUID is stated wherever your own artwork emphasises an ingredient; the nutrition table is present or a specific Annex V exemption genuinely applies; the label language matches every market you will list in; date format and lot code are printed and legible; the listing carries the mandatory information pre-purchase; and no claim on pack, listing or ad needs authorisation you do not have.
Where we fit: Arovela manufactures private label tea bags and dried fruit products in Sındırgı, Balıkesir, with a warehouse in Solingen, Germany, serving EU and Ukrainian markets. We supply the specification, recipe breakdown, allergen and shelf-life data, certificate of analysis and lot-marked batches that a seller needs in order to build a compliant label, and we print outer boxes and labels to approved artwork; our management systems are certified to ISO 22000, ISO 9001 and ISO 27001. What we cannot do is take the legal duty off your pack — that stays with the name on the label, which is why the private label programme guide treats documentation as part of the product rather than an extra.
None of this is legal advice; for a specific product and market, have your label reviewed by a competent adviser before you print.
FAQ
Who is legally responsible for a food label — me or my supplier?
Under the FIC Regulation, the responsible operator is the one under whose name or business name the food is marketed, or the importer where that operator is not established in the Union. If your brand is on the pack and you bring the product into the EU, that is you. Your supplier is obliged to give you accurate data, and your contract can allocate cost if they do not, but the public-law duty stays with the name on the label.
Do I need a nutrition table on herbal tea?
Often not, but check rather than assume. Annex V exempts herbal and fruit infusions and teas that contain no added ingredients other than flavourings which do not modify nutritional value, as well as unprocessed single-ingredient products. Add dried fruit pieces, a sweetener or another nutritionally relevant ingredient and the exemption stops applying.
Can I sell the same labelled product across all EU markets?
Only if the label carries a language easily understood by consumers in each market, and Member States may require their official language. The realistic options are a multilingual pack, market-specific artwork, or compliant overlabelling. Decide early, because the choice changes artwork count, minimum order quantity and unit cost at the same time.
What do I have to show in the listing before someone buys?
The mandatory food information, other than the date of minimum durability or use-by date, must be available before the purchase is concluded and not charged for; everything must then be available on delivery. In practice: a legible back-panel image plus transcribed ingredients with allergen emphasis, net quantity, nutrition where required, and your business name and address.
How much traceability record-keeping do I actually need?
Enough to identify your supplier and your onward customers, and to link lot numbers to what you received and sold. Keep the certificate of analysis and batch documents per lot, record lot numbers at inbound, and check whether your fulfilment provider preserves lot identity. The working test is whether you could scope a single-batch withdrawal within a day.
If you are choosing a producer and want the documentation side handled properly from the first run, send your product concept, target markets and pack format and request a quote — we will come back with lead time, terms and exactly which data we supply for your label.