EU food QUID

QUID is the ingredient percentage Article 22 requires when the ingredient is named, emphasised, or essential

Direct answer. Article 22(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires the quantity of an ingredient or category of ingredients used in the manufacture or preparation of a food where that ingredient appears in the name of the food or is usually associated with that name by the consumer, is emphasised on the labelling in words, pictures or graphics, or is essential to characterise the food and to distinguish it from products with which it might be confused because of its name or appearance. Article 22(2) puts the exceptions in Annex VIII. Article 9(1)(d) lists that quantity among the mandatory particulars. For prepacked food sold by distance communication, Article 14 requires mandatory particulars other than the durability date to be available before the purchase is concluded. The Commission Notice is 2017/C 393/05. This page is not legal advice.

EU Food Info Guard (Shopify App Store · Write a review) reviews allergen, ingredient, nutrition, net quantity, origin, operator, and storage gaps before food product display, and detects Annex II allergens from ingredient text. The listing does not describe calculating an ingredient percentage. Allergens are a separate page. Nutrition and net quantity are another.

Related: FibreLedger Textile Labels — EU fibre composition uses Annex I names.

Free check first: EU food label particulars checklist runs in your browser and sends nothing. Paste food label text and see which mandatory particulars and Annex II allergens it names.

Checklist before you print a percentage

When Article 22 requires the percentage

The Commission Notice says QUID is the indication of the quantity of certain ingredients or categories of ingredients, and it points to Article 9(1)(d) and Article 22. Article 22(1) is the three cases quoted above. Annex VIII, point 3, says the indication shall be expressed as a percentage corresponding to the quantity of the ingredient or ingredients at the time of use, and shall appear either in or immediately next to the name of the food or in the list of ingredients in connection with the ingredient in question. Point 4 of that annex changes the basis of the percentage for moisture loss, volatile ingredients, and concentrated or dehydrated foods. Read those points before you copy a recipe percentage onto the label.

The Notice, at its introduction, says the requirement to indicate QUID does not apply to foods consisting of a single ingredient, because that quantity corresponds to 100%. That sentence is the Notice’s reading. Confirm it against Article 22 and Annex VIII for the food in front of you.

Annex VIII exceptions

Annex VIII, point 1, says the quantitative indication shall not be required in respect of an ingredient or category of ingredients whose drained net weight is indicated in accordance with point 5 of Annex IX; whose quantities must already appear on the labelling under Union provisions; which is used in small quantities for the purposes of flavouring; or which, while appearing in the name of the food, is not such as to govern the choice of the consumer in the country of marketing because the variation in quantity is not essential to characterise the food or does not distinguish it from similar foods. It also is not required where specific Union provisions stipulate precisely the quantity without providing for an indication on the labelling, or in the cases referred to in points 4 and 5 of Part A of Annex VII.

Point 2 says points (a) and (b) of Article 22(1) shall not apply to an ingredient covered by the indication ‘with sweetener(s)’ or ‘with sugar(s) and sweetener(s)’ if that indication accompanies the name of the food pursuant to Annex III, or to any added vitamin and mineral if that substance is subject to a nutrition declaration. The Notice walks those derogations. It is guidance. The Notice says it is without prejudice to the Court of Justice.

Distance selling

Article 14 applies to prepacked foods offered for sale by means of distance communication. Mandatory food information, except the particulars in Article 9(1)(f) (the date of minimum durability or the ‘use by’ date), shall be available before the purchase is concluded and shall appear on the material supporting the distance selling or be provided through other appropriate means clearly identified by the food business operator, without supplementary cost to the consumer. All mandatory particulars shall be available at delivery. When Article 22 makes a QUID mandatory, that quantity is an Article 9(1)(d) particular, so the before-purchase rule includes it. The operator’s name and address, a different particular, is the food business operator page.

Food sold in Great Britain follows retained and domestic labelling rules. The Food Standards Agency publishes its own QUID material. This page does not restate those UK pages.

What this page is not

Related pages

Not legal advice. Confirm Article 22, Annex VIII, and Article 14 on EUR-Lex, and the Commission Notice 2017/C 393/05, before you treat a percentage as required or exempt. The app reviews food-information gaps you enter. It does not calculate a QUID.