Ingredients lists and compound ingredients

Start with the word 'Ingredients', or a heading that contains it. List every ingredient in descending order of weight, as used when the food was made, so the largest amount comes first. Include water and additives. Show an additive by its function, followed by its name or E number.

A compound ingredient is made from two or more other ingredients. Bread, mayonnaise, pesto and sausages are examples. Give its name, then list what is in it. Copy this from the supplier's label or specification, not from memory. Emphasise any allergens inside it.

Here is a worked example, with allergens in capitals. Ingredients: bread (WHEAT flour, water, yeast, rapeseed oil, salt, SOYA flour), cooked chicken (chicken, salt), mayonnaise (rapeseed oil, water, pasteurised EGG yolk, spirit vinegar, MUSTARD seed, salt, sugar), lettuce. Your own label must use your real recipe and your supplier's real wording.

There are limited exemptions. A mix of herbs or spices without additives, making up less than 2% of the product, need not be broken down. But allergens must always be declared.

Sulphites count when they are above 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre in the finished food. This applies even when they are carried over from an ingredient such as dried fruit.