The net weight statement, done right

Every packaged food must state how much is inside, the net quantity of contents. It sounds trivial; it's one of the most commonly wrong elements on small-maker labels.

The five rules

1. Net contents only: the weight of the food, never including the jar, wrapper, or tin.
2. Dual declaration: US customary andmetric, “Net Wt 12 oz (340 g)”. Either system may come first.
3. Weight vs fluid measure:solid, semi-solid, and viscous foods use weight (“Net Wt”); liquids use fluid measure (“Net 12 fl oz (355 mL)”). Jam is weight; syrup poured as a liquid is fluid ounces.
4. Placement: in the bottom 30% of the principal display panel (the front of the package), parallel to the package base. Very small packages (≤5 in² PDP) are exempt from the bottom-30% placement.
5. Type size scales with the panel:minimum height of 1/16 in (PDP ≤5 in²), 1/8 in (>5–25 in²), 3/16 in (>25–100 in²), 1/4 in (>100–400 in²), and 1/2 in (>400 in²), measured by lowercase letter height. Verify against 101.105(i) for your exact package.

Good examples

• Cookies in a pouch: Net Wt 8 oz (227 g)
• Jam in a jar: Net Wt 10 oz (283 g)
• Hot sauce: Net 5 fl oz (148 mL)
• Loaf of bread over a pound: Net Wt 1 lb 8 oz (680 g)

Common mistakes

• Metric missing entirely (the single most common error)
• Weighing product + packaging together
• Using fluid ounces for a thick product sold by weight (or vice versa)
• Burying the statement on the back panel