Can You Label Your Food Fresh? The FDA Rule
Fresh feels like a harmless word, so it goes on a lot of labels. Here is the part sellers do not expect: fresh is one of the few of these terms the FDA actually defines, and the definition is narrow. Put it on the front of a jar that does not fit, and you have made a claim you cannot keep. Here is what fresh legally means, and the one common use it does not cover.
Fresh means raw and unpreserved
Under 21 CFR 101.95, the FDA defines fresh to mean a food that is raw, has never been frozen or heated, and contains no preservatives. It is aimed at raw foods like produce. A few post-harvest treatments are allowed, but freezing, canning, cooking, or adding a preservative all take a food out of the fresh definition.
Freshly baked and fresh-frozen are separate uses
The rule is about fresh implying a food is raw. It does not stop a bakery from saying freshly baked or fresh-baked, which describe something recently made, not something raw. Fresh frozen or frozen fresh is also allowed for food frozen quickly while still fresh. So a loaf of bread can be freshly baked, but a cooked, shelf-stable jam is not fresh in the FDA sense.
Where sellers get it wrong
The trouble comes from putting fresh on a food that has been cooked, canned, or preserved, like calling a cooked sauce or a jarred pickle fresh. If your product is heated, or it holds on a shelf because of a preservative or a canning step, fresh is the wrong word for it, and a specific, true phrase serves you better.
What Nutripane does and does not do
Nutripane formats your label and does not police a marketing word like fresh, but the ingredient list it builds will show a preservative if you use one, which is exactly what the fresh definition turns on. Use fresh only for a raw, unheated, unpreserved food, reach for freshly baked when that is what you mean, and check the current FDA rule.
Questions
Can I call my baked goods fresh?
You can say freshly baked or fresh-baked, which describe food that was recently made. That is different from the FDA definition of fresh, which means raw and never heated. Since baked goods are cooked, use freshly baked rather than plain fresh to stay accurate.
Does adding a preservative stop me from saying fresh?
Yes. The FDA definition of fresh specifically excludes food that contains a preservative, along with food that has been frozen or heated. If your product uses a preservative to hold on the shelf, fresh is not the right word for it.
Keep reading
This page is general information, not legal advice. Cottage food and food labeling rules vary by state and change over time. Confirm current requirements with your state's cottage food program and the FDA before you sell. See your state's rules or how to label your product.