How to make a nutrition information panel in Australia
Last updated
Packaged food sold at retail in Australia needs a nutrition information panel (Standard 1.2.8). This guide explains what goes in the panel and how the numbers are worked out, with the section of the Food Standards Code for each rule in brackets.
Labelwise applies these rules to your recipe. This guide, like Labelwise, isn't advice: you are responsible for the label you print, and you can ask your own adviser if you're unsure.
Who needs one
If you sell packaged food at retail in Australia, plan on a panel (Standard 1.2.8). Some food has different labelling duties, or none, and this guide doesn't cover it:
- unpackaged food, food for catering and food sold for immediate consumption (1.2.1—6 to 1.2.1—9);
- alcoholic drinks over 1.15% alcohol by volume, which have no standard nutrition panel and carry alcohol content and standard drinks statements instead (Part 2.7 and 1.2.8—5);
- infant formula, food for infants, formulated meal replacements and supplementary foods, sports foods and food for special medical purposes, which have their own standards (2.9.1 to 2.9.5);
- food making a nutrition content claim or health claim, which needs extra rows and conditions (1.2.7).
Labelwise refuses these products rather than print a label that looks finished. If you think your food doesn't need a panel at all, check Standard 1.2.8 itself: Labelwise doesn't decide that for you.
What the panel looks like
The panel starts with the heading "NUTRITION INFORMATION", then "Servings per package:" and "Serving size:". Below that are two columns of numbers: one per serving and one per 100 g, or per 100 mL for a liquid (1.2.8—6(2), S12—2).
The column headings say the values are averages: "Average quantity per serving" and "Average quantity per 100 g" (1.2.8—7(1)(a), worded as in the example panel in S12—7).
The seven rows, in order
The rows always come in this order (S12—2):
- Energy
- Protein
- Fat, total
- – saturated
- Carbohydrate
- – sugars
- Sodium
Energy is in kilojoules (kJ). You may add Calories beside it, worked out as kJ ÷ 4.18 (1.2.8—6(1)(d)(i), S11—2(4)). Protein, fat, carbohydrate and sugars are in grams, and sodium in milligrams.
Dietary fibre can be added as an optional row. It goes after the carbohydrate rows and before sodium (S12—3).
Per serving and per 100 g
You choose the serving size and say how many servings are in the package. For a liquid sold by volume, the per-100 mL column uses the food's density (1.2.8—6(2)).
Average quantity: two ways to get the numbers
The panel shows the average quantity of each nutrient (defined in 1.1.2—2(3)). The Code allows two ways to work it out (1.1.1—6(3)):
- From the recipe. Add up what each ingredient contributes. This is what Labelwise does when you enter your recipe.
- From an analysis of the food. A lab tests the finished food, or a supplier's specification gives values for the finished product. Labelwise accepts these as lab values and uses them instead of the ingredients' values.
You choose the method that best represents your food, allowing for differences between batches and seasons (1.1.1—6(2)). Labelwise doesn't check a lab's method or whether the values represent every batch: that judgement is yours.
Moisture loss
Food that is baked, roasted or simmered loses water. The nutrients stay behind in less food, so each 100 g of the finished food holds more of them. Labelwise works per 100 g of the finished food: the recipe's total nutrients divided by the weight after cooking (the method used by the FSANZ Nutrition Panel Calculator).
For example, if a batch made from 1,000 g of ingredients weighs 850 g after baking, the nutrients of the whole 1,000 g are shared over 850 g.
If something is strained or lifted out after cooking, such as bones in a broth or tea leaves in a brew, it takes nutrients with it that a recipe can't account for. Labelwise won't make that panel from the recipe; enter the finished food's lab values instead.
Rounding
Each value is shown to not more than 3 significant figures (1.2.8—7(3)). Labelwise also shows grams to at most 1 decimal place, and no decimal place from 100 up. Halves round up. So:
| Worked out | Shown |
|---|---|
| 1234.5 kJ | 1230 kJ |
| 12.34 g | 12.3 g |
| 0.456 g | 0.5 g |
| 123.4 g | 123 g |
You may instead show small amounts as "LESS THAN 40 kJ", "LESS THAN 1 g" (protein, fat, fatty acids, carbohydrate, sugars, fibre) or "LESS THAN 5 mg" (sodium) (1.2.8—7(4)–(6)). This is optional.
Where the numbers come from
The ingredient values in Labelwise come from the FSANZ Nutrition Panel Calculator dataset 2026. Ingredient data: Nutrition Panel Calculator dataset 2026 © Food Standards Australia New Zealand. It is used under the FSANZ Data User Licence Agreement; see our data and licences page. The dataset has no fibre values, so add fibre from your supplier's specification if you show it.
A typed value can still be wrong, so Labelwise checks each ingredient's energy against its protein, fat, carbohydrate and fibre, at 17, 37, 17 and 8 kJ per gram (S11—2(2)), and warns when they don't add up. Where your supplier's specification differs from the dataset, use the specification for the ingredient you actually buy.
Make this label
Enter your recipe, the weight after cooking and your serving size, and Labelwise draws the panel with every value rounded as above.