Ingredient list order and naming.

What 21 CFR 101.4 covers

Section 101.4 is titled "Food; designation of ingredients." It governs how the ingredients of a packaged food are named and ordered. The version on this page is the eCFR text current through October 29, 2026, with a history of amendments from 1977 to 88 FR 17716 (March 24, 2023). Ingredients required to be declared, including foods that comply with standards of identity and except those exempted by 101.100, are listed on the principal display panel or the information panel under the rules of 101.2.

Descending order of predominance: paragraph (a)

The core rule is in (a)(1): ingredients are listed "by common or usual name in descending order of predominance by weight." The heaviest ingredient comes first. There is one relief valve in (a)(2): the descending order does not apply to ingredients present at 2 percent or less by weight when they are placed at the end of the ingredient statement after a quantifying statement, for example "Contains __ percent or less of ______" or "Less than __ percent of ______." The threshold may be 2 percent or, if desired, 1.5, 1.0 or 0.5 percent, and "no ingredient to which the quantifying phrase applies may be present in an amount greater than the stated threshold."

Specific names, not collective names: paragraph (b)

Paragraph (b) requires a specific name rather than a collective or generic one, with exceptions. Spices, flavorings, colorings and chemical preservatives follow 101.22. An ingredient that itself contains several ingredients and has an established common or usual name (or conforms to a USDA or FDA standard) can be declared either by that name followed by a parenthetical list of its components in descending order, or by folding each component into the main list in order. A set of dairy and egg terms may be shortened: milk forms as "milk," skim forms as "skim milk" or "nonfat milk," whey forms as "whey," cream forms as "cream," and liquid, frozen or dried whole eggs as "eggs." Bacterial cultures may use the word "cultured" plus the substrate.

Special groupings

• Fats and oils, (b)(14). Each fat or oil is declared by its specific name in order of predominance, but blends may be called "vegetable oil shortening" or "blend of vegetable oils" if the individual oils follow in parentheses. A completely hydrogenated oil includes "hydrogenated," a partially hydrogenated one includes "partially hydrogenated." Oils that are sometimes used may be listed with words such as "or" or "contains one or more of the following."
• Leavening, (b)(16). "Leavening" followed by each agent in parentheses, for example "leavening (baking soda, monocalcium phosphate, and calcium carbonate)."
• Yeast nutrients, dough conditioners, firming agents, (b)(17) to (b)(19). The same collective-name pattern with the individual names in parentheses.
• Sugar, (b)(20). For ingredient labeling the term sugar means sucrose from sugar cane or sugar beets.
• Fresh produce wax, (b)(22). Declared collectively with a phrase such as "coated with food-grade vegetable-, petroleum-, beeswax-, and/or shellac-based wax or resin, to maintain freshness."

Water, "nondairy" and percentages

Paragraph (c) says that when water is added to reconstitute an ingredient allowed to be declared by a class name, the class name's position is set by the weight of the unreconstituted ingredient plus the water needed to reach single strength; any excess water is declared as "water." Paragraph (d) requires a parenthetical source, such as "a milk derivative," after a caseinate in a food labeled "nondairy." Paragraph (e) says that where an ingredient percentage is shown, it appears in parentheses after the name, by weight, to the nearest 1 percent.

Worked example

Take a bread formula by weight: wheat flour 500, water 300, sugar 80, soybean oil 60, salt 12, yeast 6, calcium propionate 2. The total is 960, so wheat flour is about 52 percent, water 31 percent, sugar 8 percent, soybean oil 6 percent, salt 1.3 percent, yeast 0.6 percent and calcium propionate 0.2 percent. In descending order the first four ingredients keep their places. At a 2 percent threshold, salt, yeast and calcium propionate are each at or under 2 percent and may be grouped: "wheat flour, water, sugar, soybean oil, Contains 2 percent or less of salt, yeast, calcium propionate." Setting the threshold at 1 percent would pull salt (1.3 percent) back into the main list. The tool above does this arithmetic, and it flags ties because the section only says "descending order," not how to break an equal weight.

Limits of this page

The tool orders by weight and applies the grouping threshold. It does not choose common or usual names, apply the major food allergen statement rules, handle compound-ingredient exceptions, 101.100 exemptions, the dietary supplement ingredient rules in (g) and (h), or the type size and placement rules of 101.2. For a real label confirm every name with the full section and a qualified professional.

Sources

Sources opened and read November 2, 2026.

• eCFR: 21 CFR 101.4, Food; designation of ingredients (current through October 29, 2026) (read November 2, 2026)
• eCFR: 21 CFR part 101, Food labeling (read November 2, 2026)