UFI label rules

Once a code has come out of our UFI Generator page, the question shifts from how it was built to where it goes. The rules below apply whatever the code itself looks like.

The UFI prefix

Every UFI is printed with the three letters "UFI" and a colon directly in front of the 16-character string, and those three letters are never translated. On a label carrying five language columns for every hazard statement and precautionary phrase, the prefix stays in Latin script and in English in every column — a poison centre operator taking a call in Athens or Tallinn needs to recognise the same three characters regardless of which language block they are reading from. Drop the prefix, or render it in the local language, and the string next to it can be mistaken for a batch number, an order reference, or nothing in particular.

Where on the label

There is no fixed millimetre position, but the code has to sit somewhere a first responder can find it in a hurry — close to the hazard pictograms and the signal word, not tucked below the ingredient list or printed only on a fold that gets torn off when the pack is opened. It has to survive the shelf life of the product too: printed or affixed in a way that will not rub off, fade, or peel before the last unit is sold, since a UFI that has become illegible by the time someone needs to read it off the pack is functionally the same as one that was never printed.

Unpackaged mixtures and small packaging

Some mixtures are supplied without individual packaging at all — ready-mix concrete delivered by tanker is the standard example — so there is no label to put a UFI on. For those, the code has to be entered in section 1.1 of the safety data sheet instead, which is the one place a professional user handling the bulk delivery can be expected to check.

Small inner packaging creates a related but different problem: the container exists, but there is not enough surface for a full label. Where that is genuinely the case, the UFI moves to the outer packaging rather than being dropped, printed alongside the rest of the required label information rather than as an isolated afterthought.

Industrial mixtures: the SDS alternative

A mixture notified for industrial use only — see our scope page for what qualifies — gets a concession the other two categories do not: the UFI does not have to appear on the label at all. It can be provided only in the safety data sheet instead, which fits how these products actually move: a mixture delivered to a factory floor with an SDS on file is read by trained staff who will consult that document anyway, unlike a household product bought off a shelf.

Common label mistakes

The errors that come up most often are simple ones, repeated across otherwise well-run labelling operations: the prefix left off so the code reads as an anonymous string of characters; the UFI placed on the back panel under other text where nobody looks for it under time pressure; the same code left on a relabelled or recoloured variant that actually changed enough to need its own; and print small enough that it survives a design review but not a phone call made from a poorly lit kitchen. None of these make the code itself wrong — they make it unusable at the moment it is needed, which has the same practical effect as not printing it. What actually happens when a mixture reaches the market with a label defect like this is covered on our non-compliance page.