Food label font size: the UK rules

The rule

GOV.UK restates the same thresholds in plain English: 1.2 mm normally, 0.9 mm on small packs.

What x-height means

X-height is the height of a lower-case “x” in the typeface you are using — the body of the letter, without the ascender of an “h” or the descender of a “p”. It is not the point size.

Two typefaces set at 8 pt can have visibly different x-heights. A geometric font with a small x-height may fail at a point size where a humanist font with a large one passes comfortably. This is the single most common misunderstanding about the rule.

How to measure yours

1. Print one label at the size you intend to use. Not a screen preview.
2. Find a lower-case “x” in the ingredients list — or any letter without an ascender or descender, like “e” or “o”.
3. Measure its height with a ruler that has millimetre markings, or a loupe with a scale.
4. If it is under 1.2 mm (or 0.9 mm on a small pack), increase the size and print again.

Do this once per typeface, write down the point size that passes, and use it from then on.

The 80 cm² threshold

The smaller floor applies where the largest surface of the packaging is under 80 cm². That is the biggest single face of the pack, not the area of the label.

Measure the pack rather than the label. A large box with a small sticker on it is still a large pack.

When the list won’t fit

In this order:

1. Remove what isn’t required. For PPDS food, the business name, address and date are not requirements. They are usually the first things taking up space.
2. Set the list as running text, not a bulleted column. It fits far more in the same area.
3. Reduce leading before size. Tightening line spacing slightly is safer than dropping below the x-height floor.
4. Go up a label size. The cheapest fix, and usually the right one.
5. Use a larger surface of the pack. A wrap-around label or the lid rather than the side.

What you must not do is shrink the text below the floor. A list nobody can read is not information.

Legible, not just large enough

Meeting the x-height minimum is necessary, not sufficient. The FSA is clear that a label must be “visible and clearly legible”, and that a consumer “should not need to open the packaging to access this information”.

• Dark text on a plain light background. Never over a photograph.
• Do not print across a fold, a seam, or the part of a wrapper that gets twisted.
• Check a real pack, not a flat proof — film wrap distorts, and thermal print fades in heat and sunlight.
• Keep allergen emphasis as bold capitals so it survives all of the above.

Questions