FDA Nutrition Label Rounding Rules
Updated November 2026 · 21 CFR § 101.9
Rounding on a Nutrition Facts label is law, not style. Each nutrient has its own increments in 21 CFR § 101.9, and a panel that rounds “to one decimal place” everywhere is misbranded even if every number is otherwise correct. This page lists every step, with examples, plus the Daily Value numbers behind the %DV column.
The master table
| Nutrient | Rounding rule | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | <5 → 0; 5–50 to nearest 5; >50 to nearest 10 | 163→160 · 47→45 · 3→0 |
| Total / saturated / trans fat | <0.5 g → 0; <5 g to nearest 0.5 g; ≥5 g to nearest 1 g | 0.4→0 · 2.3→2.5 · 6.4→6 |
| Cholesterol | nearest 5 mg; <2 mg → 0; 2–5 mg “less than 5 mg” | 8→10 · 3→<5 mg · 1→0 |
| Sodium | <5 mg → 0; 5–140 to nearest 5 mg; >140 to nearest 10 mg | 112→110 · 143→140 · 4→0 |
| Carb / fiber / sugars / added sugars / protein | nearest 1 g; <0.5 g → 0; <1 g “less than 1 g” | 12.4→12 · 0.6→<1 g · 0.4→0 |
| Vitamin D | nearest 0.1 mcg | 2.45→2.5 mcg |
| Calcium | nearest 10 mg | 133→130 mg |
| Iron | nearest 0.1 mg | 1.8→1.8 mg |
| Potassium | nearest 10 mg | 352→350 mg |
The calorie, fat, cholesterol, sodium and gram steps come straight from § 101.9(c)(1)–(7). For vitamins and minerals, § 101.9(c)(8)(iv) fixes the units (vitamin D in mcg; calcium, iron and potassium in mg) while the increments above follow FDA labeling guidance — the convention every compliant panel uses.
%DV is a second rounding pass
The percent Daily Value is computed from the actual, unrounded amount, then rounded by its own rules — so you cannot derive %DV from the printed gram figure.
- Macronutrients (fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, fiber, added sugars, protein): nearest whole percent (§ 101.9(d)(7)). Example: 6 g fat ÷ 78 g = 7.7% → 8%.
- Vitamins & minerals (§ 101.9(c)(8)(iii)): to the nearest 2% up to 10%; nearest 5% from 10–50%; nearest 10% above 50%. Under 2% may be shown as 0 or an asterisk footnote. Example: 5 mcg vitamin D ÷ 20 mcg = 25% → 25%; 350 mg potassium ÷ 4,700 mg = 7.4% → 8%.
The Daily Value reference table
These are the adult / children-4+ values, based on a 2,000-calorie diet:
| Nutrient | Daily Value | Nutrient | Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total fat | 78 g | Vitamin D | 20 mcg |
| Saturated fat | 20 g | Calcium | 1,300 mg |
| Cholesterol | 300 mg | Iron | 18 mg |
| Sodium | 2,300 mg | Potassium | 4,700 mg |
| Total carbohydrate | 275 g | Dietary fiber | 28 g |
| Added sugars | 50 g | Protein | 50 g |
“Zero” is a legal statement, not a lab result
A rounded zero does not mean absolute absence. 0 g trans fat can still contain up to 0.5 g per serving; 0 g sugar means under 0.5 g. That is why claims like “sugar free” (<0.5 g per serving) and “sodium free” (<5 mg) have precise definitions — and why a claim always pulls the product into full nutrition labeling, even if it was otherwise exempt.
Why spreadsheets get this wrong
- Flat rounding. Rounding everything to one decimal ignores that sodium has three tiers, fat switches at 5 g, and calories switch at 50.
- Binary floating point. 1.05 ÷ 0.1 is 10.499999… in IEEE-754, so a naive round gives 1.0 where the regulation’s half-up gives 1.1. Correct implementations round half-up on scaled integers or decimals.
- Wrong order of operations. Calories must be computed from the unrounded gram amounts (§ 101.9(c)(1)(i)); rounding the macros first and then multiplying gives the wrong calorie figure.
- %DV from the printed number. %DV comes from the actual amount, not the rounded gram figure — deriving it from the label introduces drift.
How NutrientLabel applies this
Every export runs these steps automatically, and the compliance panel shows the per-nutrient decision (for example “<5 g: nearest 0.5 g”) so you can audit any number. The web engine is checked against an independent reference implementation across thousands of assertions, so the browser, the PDF and the reference agree bit-for-bit. You still own the recipe accuracy — the tool owns the formatting.
Let the tool do the rounding
Enter your recipe and export a print-ready FDA panel with every rounding step applied — free, no account, nothing uploaded. Free exports are 2.5″ vertical with a small watermark; other sizes and tabular/linear are Pro.
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