Serving Size and RACC Lookup

RACC stands for Reference Amount Customarily Consumed. These are standardized food portion amounts published by FDA in 21 CFR 101.12 that represent how much of a food people typically eat in one sitting. Your label's serving size must be based on the RACC for your product category — you cannot simply choose a convenient serving size.

The RACC table covers approximately 150 food product categories organized by food group: Bakery Products, Beverages, Cereals and Other Grain Products, Dairy Products and Substitutes, Desserts, Egg Products, Fats and Oils, and about 13 other groups. Each category has a reference amount in grams or milliliters.

In ServingCalc, type your product description — for example, granola bar, salad dressing, or ice cream. The tool searches the RACC table and suggests matching categories with their reference amounts.

For granola bar: the matching category is Grain-based bars with a RACC of 40g. If your bar weighs 35-80g (67-200% of RACC), the serving size is 1 bar. If your bar weighs 15g, the serving size is 3 bars (closest to 40g RACC).

The tool also calculates the household measure equivalent and formats it per FDA requirements: Serving Size 1 bar (40g). For products measured by volume like ice cream (RACC 2/3 cup or 100mL), the format is: Serving Size 2/3 cup (100mL).

You can override the suggested serving size if your product does not fit neatly into a RACC category. When you set a custom serving size, ServingCalc shows a warning if your chosen serving deviates significantly from the RACC — because a serving size that is too small or too large compared to the RACC may trigger FDA scrutiny.

The tool also flags when your package contains 200-300% of the RACC, which may require a dual-column Nutrition Facts panel showing both per serving and per container values. Dual-column label generation is on the roadmap.