List of ingredients

Quantity Marking / Weight Statements

Quantitative Ingredient Declaration (QUID)

Subject to the exemptions given below, the indication of the quantity of an ingredient or category of ingredients used in the manufacture or preparation of a food is required where the ingredient or category of ingredients concerned:

(a) appears in the name of the food or is usually associated with that name by the consumer;
(b) is emphasised on the labelling in words, pictures or graphics; or
(c) is essential to characterise a food and to distinguish it from products with which it might be confused because of its name or appearance.

The quantitative indication is not required:

(a) in respect of an ingredient or category of ingredients:

(i) the drained net weight of which is indicated in accordance with point 5 of Annex IX (see Quantity marking);
(ii) the quantities of which must already appear on the labelling under EU-derived domestic legislation or retained direct EU legislation;
(iii) which is used in small quantities for the purposes of flavouring; or
(iv) which, while appearing in the name of the food, is not such as to govern the choice of the consumer because the variation in quantity is not essential to characterise the food or does not distinguish it from similar foods;

(b) where specific EU-derived domestic legislation or retained direct EU legislation stipulates precisely the quantity of an ingredient or of a category of ingredients without providing for the indication thereof on the labelling; or

(c) in the cases referred to in points 4 and 5 of Part A of Annex VII. These points refer to:

• Fruit, vegetables or mushrooms, none of which significantly predominates in terms of weight and which are used in proportions that are likely to vary, used in a mixture as ingredients of a food
• Mixtures of spices or herbs, where none significantly predominates in proportion by weight

Points (a) and (b) of the General Requirement above do not apply in the case of:

(a) any ingredient or category of ingredients covered by the indication ‘with sweetener(s)’ or ‘with sugar(s) and sweetener(s)’ if that indication accompanies the name of the food due to a legal requirement (see 'Annex III Requirements' under Additional mandatory requirements); or
(b) any added vitamin and mineral if that substance is subject to a nutrition declaration.

The indication of quantity of an ingredient or category of ingredients shall:

(a) be expressed as a percentage, which shall correspond to the quantity of the ingredient or ingredients at the time of its/their use; and
(b) appear either in or immediately next to the name of the food or in the list of ingredients in connection with the ingredient or category of ingredients in question.

Exemptions to this are permitted in the following cases:

(a) where foods have lost moisture following heat treatment or other treatment, the quantity shall be expressed as a percentage which shall correspond to the quantity of the ingredient(s) used, related to the finished product, unless that quantity or the total quantity of all the ingredients indicated on the labelling exceeds 100%, in which case the quantity shall be indicated on the basis of the weight of the ingredient(s) used to prepare 100g of finished product;

(b) the quantity of volatile ingredients shall be indicated on the basis of their proportion by weight in the finished product;

(c) the quantity of ingredients used in concentrated or dehydrated form and reconstituted during manufacture may be indicated on the basis of their proportion by weight as recorded before their concentration or dehydration;

(d) in the case of concentrated or dehydrated foods which are intended to be reconstituted by the addition of water, the quantity of the ingredients may be indicated on the basis of their proportion by weight in the reconstituted product.

Quantity Marking / Weight Statements

For the main index page for this site, go to Food Labelling in the UK: A Guide to the Legal Requirements