Food label language requirements in Denmark

Danish is required on a food label in Denmark -- with a narrow allowance for a language differing from it only by insignificant spelling.

Danish, with a spelling allowance

Denmark's rule is the Mærkningsbekendtgørelsen, BEK nr 1355 af 27/11/2015 § 3. The mandatory particulars must be in Danish, or in a language differing from Danish only by insignificant spelling differences.

That allowance is narrow and is about orthographic proximity, not about Scandinavian languages generally. It is not a general permission to label in Swedish or Norwegian.

English accompanies, it does not replace

English and other languages may appear alongside Danish. What they cannot do is carry a mandatory particular that Danish does not also carry.

For an exporter this means the Danish column is the compliance column, and anything else on the pack is additional.

What else Reg. 1169/2011 makes mandatory

Language is one requirement among many, and the language rule applies to ALL of them. Reg. (EU) 1169/2011 Art. 9(1) sets the mandatory particulars: the food name, the ingredient list, allergens, QUID where it applies, net quantity, the date, storage and use conditions, the responsible operator, origin where required, instructions for use, alcoholic strength above 1.2% vol, and the nutrition declaration. Every one of them has to appear in Danish.

Danish is the compliance column: every particular below must be present in it, whatever else the pack carries.

Art. 13(2)-(3) sets how small they may be: an x-height of at least 1.2 mm, or 0.9 mm where the largest surface of the pack is under 80 cm². X-height is the height of a lower-case x — not the nominal point size, which is the mistake that puts a label under the floor while the artwork file says otherwise.

Allergens, QUID and the nutrition table

Art. 21(1)(b) and Annex II require every one of the 14 allergen groups to be emphasised INSIDE the ingredient list by a distinguishing typeset — a different font, style or background. The 14 include the gluten cereals, sulphites above 10 mg/kg, lupin and molluscs. An ingredient list set entirely in capitals emphasises nothing, because nothing distinguishes the allergen from the rest.

Art. 22(1) requires the QUID percentage whenever an ingredient appears in the food's name, is emphasised in words or pictures, or characterises the food.

Arts 30(1), 32(2) and 34(1)-(2) with Annex XV require the full nutrition declaration — energy plus fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt — per 100 g or 100 ml, in the Annex XV order, tabular where space permits and linear where it does not.

Dates, the operator and net quantity

Art. 24 and Annex X set the date form, and the two are not interchangeable. “Best before” (with the day shown) or “Best before end” (month and year) is quality dating; “Use by” is safety dating, and after that date the food is deemed unsafe. Using one where the other belongs carries different legal consequences.

Art. 8(1) and Art. 9(1)(h) require the responsible operator's NAME AND ADDRESS — the operator under whose name the food is marketed, or the importer where that operator is not established in the market. A website, an e-mail address or a phone number is not an address.

Art. 23 and Annex IX set net quantity: volume in l, cl or ml, mass in kg or g, with drained weight where the food is glazed or packed in liquid. The ℮ mark is optional — an average-system guarantee — and where it is used it must be at least 3 mm and in the same field of vision.

Building a Danish pack

A Nordic multi-market pack often carries Danish, Swedish and Norwegian together. That is permitted -- each market's own required language simply has to be present and complete.

LabelYog builds each language column from the same recipe, so a three-language Nordic pack is one build rather than three.

At a glance

• Danish present for all mandatory particulars
• Spelling allowance is narrow -- do not rely on it for another language
• English may accompany but never replace Danish
• Multi-language Nordic packs are permitted
• All Reg. 1169/2011 mandatory particulars present in Danish
• All Art. 9(1) particulars present, x-height >= 1.2 mm (0.9 mm under 80 cm2)
• Annex II allergens emphasised INSIDE the ingredient list
• Operator NAME AND POSTAL ADDRESS -- not a website or e-mail

Questions

You can try the free tools without an account, read what a paid plan adds on pricing, or see how we compare with other label software before deciding anything. Every market we build for has a rule-book page of its own.