I'm starting the long process of becoming licenced etc...
one of the requirements is to have a product label listing the ingredients in order etc... (no nutriiton facts) and the allergens.
Has anybody done that and/or have any tips about how to make the process easier??
Thanks!
Unfortunately there is no way to make it easier. It is a thorough process. Whatever you use in your product list it by its common name. If the ingredient you just listed has a label, i'd list that in parentheses after its common name.
However, that process motivated me to simplify my recipes, though.
Hang in there. The peace of mind that you will gain from being that thorough is tremendous.
guess it doesn't show up that big.........basically it says
HOME BAKED
Ingredients: White/wheat flours, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, vanilla (or other flavorings), salt. WARNING: may contain trace amounts of peanuts/tree nuts.
Then it has ___________ Lbs. ________ oz. for the weight at the bottom.
I use Avery labels (maybe 3x4?) to print out sheets for all of my items. They are big because I have to list ingredients and sub-ingredients, my address, a specific "this product is home produced" statement, and the weight. Don't forget to add your colors as a lot of people are allergic to artificial colorings. What state are you in and who is doing the licensing? They should have a sample label of what you need on it.
It will be a bit time consuming at the beginning to make all of your labels, but once you have them done it won't be a big deal to rip off a label and apply it to your box.
I don't do a lot of cakes, but I'm thinking it would be easier to have smaller address labels for separate things, like the cake, filling, and frosting, then one with my state requirements. So slap on one label for whatever frosting, one label for whatever filling, one label for the cake, etc. Right now I just make up a quick label by copying and pasting whatever info I need from other labels, but, again, I don't do a lot of cakes (cookies are my main thing).
Hey, it doesn't have to look pretty. It's a label that will be on the back or side of your box that most people won't even notice. If you have to put everything I have to put on the label, you won't have room for pretty! 
Do you have separate labels for the frostings and cakes or do you just print one label per cake depending the combo they order?
i don;t know how to make it look better.!
I print one label per cake depending on the combo. However the frosting and cake ingredients are separated on the label. For every individual frosting and every individual cake/cookie flavor, I have an ingredients listing. Using MS Word on my PC I cut and paste whatever the combination to the label along with weight and/or count and print it on my computer. That way I can do both separate labels or a single one depending on what size labels I bought. The most important thing is to get the ingredients correct. The rest is just name, address, weight/count. All of it, worst case scenario, can be cut and pasted by a computer program.
thank you! this helps a lot!
I just got my kitchen inspection done and they said i need ingredient labels, i didn;t know i needed them! he didn't say any specifics, only that it has to list the ingredients in order, and any allergens. Once i do that and get my tax id i guess i'll be in business!
Thank you so much!!! this is what i needed to know!
Hey, it doesn't have to look pretty. It's a label that will be on the back or side of your box that most people won't even notice. If you have to put everything I have to put on the label, you won't have room for pretty!
I agree. Just give the info they need and let your sweets speak for themselves.
guess it doesn't show up that big.........basically it says
HOME BAKED
Ingredients: White/wheat flours, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, vanilla (or other flavorings), salt. WARNING: may contain trace amounts of peanuts/tree nuts.
Then it has ___________ Lbs. ________ oz. for the weight at the bottom.
Does this mean you have to weigh the cake after it is put together, I am a bit confused, and what kind of scale do you guys use.
yes that's what i was thinking too!!! how to i figure out the net weight?? i guess i'll need to get a big scale?
the requirements on the label are:
product name
net weight
list of ingredients descending order by weight
name and address of manufacturer
allergens
Yep. For cookies I do each, but obviously for cakes you need to do the whole thing. If your kitchen scale doesn't go up that high, you could do the ol 'stand on a regular bathroom scale and subtract your weight' thing.
Yep. For cookies I do each, but obviously for cakes you need to do the whole thing. If your kitchen scale doesn't go up that high, you could do the ol 'stand on a regular bathroom scale and subtract your weight' thing.
Ditto. However once I weigh a cake (I do cookies and cupcakes by count usually), I use that weight for cakes that use similar amounts of the same ingredients. So I don't weigh every single cake just every significantly different cake.
Yep. For cookies I do each, but obviously for cakes you need to do the whole thing. If your kitchen scale doesn't go up that high, you could do the ol 'stand on a regular bathroom scale and subtract your weight' thing.
Ditto. However once I weigh a cake (I do cookies and cupcakes by count usually), I use that weight for cakes that use similar amounts of the same ingredients. So I don't weigh every single cake just every significantly different cake.
How do you list ingredients if you use a box mix as your base? Do you just copy exactly what is on the box? What about the ingredients in the cake flour box or do you just state flour? I understand that you have to list all of the ingredients that you use but I am unclear if you have to list the ingredients inside of them. Sorry for so many questions!
Are these local requirements or are you actually making a packaged product? I was just looking at the FDA website and it says that custom cakes (not considered a "packaged" product) are exempt from labeling requirements as well as businesses whose total sales are below 500,000/year. Am I reading it wrong, is this a new requirement? I'm trying to get legal myself, so just curious. I hadn't heard that you had to have ingredients lists for cakes before--we never did in any of the bakeries I have worked in before except on the few items we actually packaged. I think we did have to have them on hand if anyone asked for them, but did not have to place them on the item.
i really don't know. I just had my inspection today for a home based business (i'm in NC and it's legal to have a home bakery) and he told me that i needed the label. I explain to him that they'll be custom cakes that i'll sell directly to the customer and not like cookies etc that you pick up from starbucks etc. He still insisted that i need labeling, as a matter of fact in the copy of the inspection report he does say that i need labels...
I think if you get Inspected by the Dept of Agriculture, You have to label your products, because they allow you to bake right from your home Kitchen, I just spoke to the HD, inspector for my area today face to face, He was at my job, and he told me that I have to call the Dept of agriculture, and tell them I would like to apply for a Class C Permit. Because if I get inspected through the HD I would have to have a separate kitchen with the works, and if I am not producing a high volume of cakes right now, it is not worth it Too Expensive.
Someone correct me if I am wrong about the labeling thing.
Are these local requirements or are you actually making a packaged product? I was just looking at the FDA website and it says that custom cakes (not considered a "packaged" product) are exempt from labeling requirements as well as businesses whose total sales are below 500,000/year. Am I reading it wrong, is this a new requirement? I'm trying to get legal myself, so just curious. I hadn't heard that you had to have ingredients lists for cakes before--we never did in any of the bakeries I have worked in before except on the few items we actually packaged. I think we did have to have them on hand if anyone asked for them, but did not have to place them on the item.
Perhaps, it depends on your state. In my state, you arent allowed to bake from home. I am trying to rent space from a commercial kitchen. When filling out the paperwork, I was told by my local Board of Health that I have to do it. Uggh! I told him that the bakery products I buy from local bakeries dont contain labels. He said newer businesses were required to do it.
Do you have separate labels for the frostings and cakes or do you just print one label per cake depending the combo they order?
i don;t know how to make it look better.!
I print one label per cake depending on the combo. However the frosting and cake ingredients are separated on the label. For every individual frosting and every individual cake/cookie flavor, I have an ingredients listing. Using MS Word on my PC I cut and paste whatever the combination to the label along with weight and/or count and print it on my computer. That way I can do both separate labels or a single one depending on what size labels I bought. The most important thing is to get the ingredients correct. The rest is just name, address, weight/count. All of it, worst case scenario, can be cut and pasted by a computer program.
I'm also in Virginia, and I did a wedding cake for the woman at the Agr. Dept. who was actually in charge of this stuff. She said that there's an exemption for labels IF you are the baker who has consulted with the client, and IF you deliver the item yourself, so that you're available to answer questions about the ingredients at the point of sale and delivery. If you sell at farmer's markets or on consignment, where it's a situation where you won't be there to answer questions, you have to have the labels. I asked her because it seemed stupid to put a label on a wedding cake 
I spoke to the health inspector about it, and he said that made sense, and suggested that to cover my bases I list the allergens that are in the cakes for the reception site personnel. When I deliver a cake I always leave a sheet with the flavors for each tier on it, and I just add the allergens that are in each cake at the bottom.
How do you list ingredients if you use a box mix as your base? Do you just copy exactly what is on the box? What about the ingredients in the cake flour box or do you just state flour? I understand that you have to list all of the ingredients that you use but I am unclear if you have to list the ingredients inside of them. Sorry for so many questions!
You have to copy the entire list from the ingredient list on the box, that's what they told me, at least.
Edited to add: that's because some people have allergies to some of the chemical ingredients in some things. I had a girl with a corn allergy, and I had a list of chemical names 4 pages long that I had to make sure weren't in anything!
How do you list ingredients if you use a box mix as your base? Do you just copy exactly what is on the box? What about the ingredients in the cake flour box or do you just state flour? I understand that you have to list all of the ingredients that you use but I am unclear if you have to list the ingredients inside of them. Sorry for so many questions!
You have to copy the entire list from the ingredient list on the box, that's what they told me, at least.
Edited to add: that's because some people have allergies to some of the chemical ingredients in some things. I had a girl with a corn allergy, and I had a list of chemical names 4 pages long that I had to make sure weren't in anything!
Thank you so much!!
We worked for a while out of a friend's kitchen here in Florida and we had to label because we were classified as a wholesale bakery. We used the Avery labels, as well. We just stored the label on our hard-drive and printed them out for each order as we needed them. It's time-consuming, at first, but once you get into a groove, it's not too bad. We just used our name and the name of the product in large fonts and shrunk the ingredients down as small as we could get it. No one said it had to be as legible as the product name!!!
Paul
Each state is different, and on top of that each county and city has their own requirements. Our county health department is fine with it as long as I follow the state's rules. So while the FDA might have guidelines, your state/county/city might not let you bake from home. Start with the biggest and work your way down.
costumeczar mentioned that her DOA said if she consults with the client then she doesn't have to label, while my DOA said I have to label no matter what, so different rules for different states. It makes finding info on a site like this confusing, but check out the sticky at the top of the forum for state info.
I have a kitchen scale that goes up to 11 lbs. if anything is heavier than that (tiered cakes are weighed individually/ by each cake) I have a bathroom scale that I use only for cakes (I keep it in a bottom drawer in my kitchen, but mostly don't have to use it except for some larger sheet cakes and such.
I am so glad a came across this topic. I am in Ohio and in the process of becoming a licensed home baker. I too was told I need a label with the list of ingredients in order of weight.
KHalstead (or anyone else in Ohio that has been through this):
The label you show in the forum, is that the label you showed the inspector? I asked if I could just say flavorings, and the lady at the HD said I had to list each flavoring.
I use doctored cake mixes, I will copy the list of ingredients on the box. But I also add extra flour and sugar, do I have to add these again or since the box lists them, is that enough?
For icing, do you list the ingredients in your shortening or just say the brand name you use?
My list will take up an entire 8 x 11 paper, that is why I am wondering how to shrink it down like you did.
I can fit everything necessary (ingredients and sub-ingredients, contact info, weight, home produced statement, and name of the product) on a 4x4 Avery label (might be 4 x 3.5 or something like that).
If flour and sugar are already on the list and your sub-ingredients match, then you don't have to add it again. This is the reason I started baking from scratch, due to having to list ingredients.
If your shortening has ingredients, you must list them all. The requirement is ingredients and sub-ingredients must be listed. Some people have allergies to these items. You are only doing yourself a favor to list them all.
Here is the ingredient section of my label:
INGREDIENTS: Cookies: Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla (water, alcohol, sugar, vanilla bean extractives), baking powder, salt. Icing: Meringue powder (corn starch, egg whites, sugar, gum arabic, calcium sulfate, citric acid, cream of tartar, silicon dioxide, and artificial flavors, Satin Ice Fondant (sugar, corn syrup, water, palm oil, natural and artificial flavor, gum tragacanth, titanium dioxide, glycerine, cellulose gum, modified corn starch, potassium sorbate, acetic acid). May contain one or more of the following FD&C colors: red 40, red 3, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1, blue 2, sodium benzoate, and potassium sorbate.
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