Mandatory labelling

With regard to food and drugs, mandatory labelling has been a major battleground between consumer advocates and corporations since the late 19th century.

The European Union equivalent is the slightly different nutrition information table, which may also be supplemented with standardized icons indicating the presence of allergens.

[1] The development of genetically modified food has led to one of the most persistent and divisive debates about mandatory labelling, which is one of the central topics in genetically modified food controversies.

Voluntary labelling and co-marketing of products deemed desirable is another matter usually carried out by entirely different means, e.g.

An interesting halfway is those labels that are considered mandatory by one buying population and effectively preclude purchase if they are not there, e.g. kosher, vegan, and the aforementioned GMO-free label now seen on many organic products.