The label is your product's legal document, not its decoration. In Mexico, commercial information is regulated by NOMs — Official Mexican Standards with mandatory compliance — whose violation translates into fines, held merchandise, and even removal from the point of sale. This guide summarizes what a label buyer needs to demand from the supplier — whether ETIVAL or Shanghai.
NOM-050-SCFI: the general commercial information standard
It applies to industrial, commercial, and service products on national territory. Among other requirements: product name, country of origin, name and address of the responsible party in Mexico (importer or manufacturer), quantity expressed in General System of Units, and warnings where use involves risk. All of this information must appear in Spanish — legible, indelible, and under conditions of use.
- Generic product name and description.
- Country of origin of the goods.
- Responsible party in Mexico: name, denomination or corporate name, and address.
- Quantity: net content and, where applicable, drained mass.
- Expiration or best-by date and batch, where applicable.
- Warnings and instructions for risky use.
NOM-051: front-of-pack labeling for food and beverages
For prepackaged foods and beverages — domestic or imported — -SCFI/SSA adds the front-of-pack warning system: excess seals (sugars, sodium, saturated fats, calories), their octagon resolution, and the sweetened coffee / not sweetened legends where applicable. Front-of-pack labeling is a technical art: geometries, minimum type sizes, and contrasts specified down to the millimeter. A supplier without NOM-051 experience will deliver artwork that fails verification.
Who answers when the label doesn't comply
Enforcement falls to PROFECO (commercial information) and, in their domains, COFEPRIS and the health authority. Sanctions for non-compliance with commercial information NOMs run from $52,128 to $781,920 MXN per violation, and can be accompanied by corrective measures: product removal, corrective advertising, and closure in serious cases. In practice, a product with a non-compliant label is usually held — every day without selling is cost.
The buyer's checklist before releasing a print run
- 01Does the artwork comply with NOM-050, with the information in Spanish and a responsible party in Mexico?
- 02If it is a food/beverage: was the NOM-051 front-of-pack labeling validated against the current standard?
- 03Do the ink and the guarantee permanence of the legal information (rub, humidity, )?
- 04Does the supplier issue color-control evidence and a traceable per-batch record?
- 05Is there a written reprint protocol in case verification catches an error?
- 06Was the label's physical proof run on YOUR actual container, with your packaging process?
A Mexican manufacturer with an in-house laboratory prints under these rules every day: it validates legends, permanence, and traceability before releasing every batch, with ISO 9001:2015 as the underlying system. Regulation is a competitive advantage for the supplier who has mastered it — and an expensive liability for the one who hasn't.
Regulatory review of your artwork before any print run.
ETIVAL Editorial Team
We manufacture for all of Mexico · ISO 9001:2015
More guides
Apply this to your project.
A technical advisor reviews your case in under 24 business hours.