An American food label is designed for an American shelf. Almost nowhere else accepts it unchanged. Relabelling is therefore not an optional finishing touch on an export shipment — for most destinations it is a condition of entry, and where it happens determines whether it is a cheap line item or an expensive emergency.
Four things a destination label usually has to fix
1. Language
Most markets require the local language on the label, either alone or alongside English. In Saudi Arabia, for example, Arabic is mandatory — the label may be Arabic only or Arabic plus English, but English alone will not do. Across Latin America the equivalent requirement is Spanish. The mistake is assuming a sticker with a translated ingredient list is enough; regulators generally expect the mandatory particulars — name of the food, ingredients, allergens, net quantity, dates, storage conditions, importer details — all present in the required language, not just some of them.
2. Date format and legibility
U.S. manufacturers often print a coded lot or Julian date that only the plant can decode. Several markets require human-readable, uncoded production and expiry dates. That is an ink-jet coding operation, and it has to be applied to product that has not yet shipped.
3. Nutrition and ingredient formats
The U.S. Nutrition Facts panel is a U.S. format. Many destinations expect a metric per-100g or per-100ml declaration, a different nutrient set, and different rounding conventions. Allergen presentation also differs — several regimes require allergens emphasised within the ingredient list rather than in a separate “contains” statement.
4. Front-of-pack warnings, where they apply
A number of Latin American markets require black octagonal warning seals on products high in sugars, sodium, saturated fat or calories. This is where generic advice goes wrong most often: the requirement is not uniform across the region, and the thresholds are not identical where it does apply. Costa Rica, for instance, does not use the octagon system at all. Treating “Latin America” as one labelling regime is a reliable way to get product held.
The rule almost nobody plans for: shelf life on arrival
Several markets, particularly in the Gulf, require a minimum proportion of a product’s shelf life to remain at the point of import — not at the point of sale. A product with a nine-month life that spends five weeks in transit and two months in a staging warehouse can fail that test on arrival even though it is perfectly good. The specific proportion varies by country and by product category, and it has changed in some markets in recent years, so it needs checking against the current rule rather than a remembered one. Practically, it means short-shelf-life items and slow-moving lines need to be planned around the rule at the ordering stage, not discovered at the port.
Why labelling belongs on the U.S. side of the shipment
Labelling at destination sounds cheaper. It usually is not, for three reasons:
- Inspection happens at the border, not after. If mandatory particulars are missing when the container is inspected, the goods are non-compliant at that moment. Being able to fix it later does not always help.
- Double handling. Unpacking, labelling and repacking a mixed container at destination — often in leased space, sometimes chilled — costs more per case than applying labels in line at origin.
- Cold chain exposure. Relabelling frozen and chilled product at destination means taking it out of temperature. Doing it before the product is loaded avoids that entirely.
We apply destination-language labelling, stickering and ink-jet date coding at our SQF-certified facility in Lawrenceville, Georgia, before the container leaves — so goods arrive ready for inspection rather than needing rework.
What to send your exporter before they can quote labelling
- Destination country and the exact regulation or standard your customs broker works to
- Required language(s), and whether bilingual is acceptable
- Whether front-of-pack warning marks apply to your categories
- Importer name and registration details that must appear on the label
- Any shelf-life-on-arrival requirement
- Case-level versus unit-level labelling — they are not the same cost
One honest caveat
Labelling rules change, and thresholds published in secondary sources are frequently out of date — we have found superseded figures still sitting on government pages. The details above were checked against the responsible regulators at the time of writing, but any specific number should be confirmed for the current period before a shipment is built around it.
Ask about labelling and date coding · A few of the markets we serve