ZABS (Food Safety Act 2019): Zambia nutrition label

Nutrition labelling requirements in Zambia

Packaged food sold in Zambia must carry a nutrition declaration under Food Safety Act (2019) + ZS labelling standards - ZABS. This page covers the Zambia - ZABS (Food Safety Act 2019) format: English Codex baseline via Zambia Bureau of Standards. A compliant Zambian nutrition label declares 7 mandatory nutrients: energy, protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, total sugars and sodium. Values are declared per 100 g or 100 ml, with energy in both kcal and kJ, and sodium rather than salt. The panel is headed "Nutrition Information". English is required on pack. There is no mandatory front-of-pack warning scheme. NFL builds a print-ready Zambian nutrition label from your recipe, applying the rounding rules and reference intakes for Zambia automatically, and exports it as PDF, PNG, SVG, JPG or EPS.

Official regulation

Key facts

Zambia food labelling requirements under the Food Safety Act

Zambia's main food law is the Food Safety Act, 2019, which is in force. Section 10 makes it an offence to label, package, sell or advertise food in a false, misleading or deceptive way, and section 11 requires food to meet any prescribed standard when labelled or sold.

The Interpretation and General Provisions Act keeps regulations made under a repealed law in force until replaced, so the food labelling regulations made under the old Food and Drugs Act still apply where consistent with the 2019 Act.

Zambia splits standards work between two bodies. The Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) develops national standards, including the ZS 033 series on pre-packaged food labelling. The Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency (ZCSA) administers and enforces compulsory standards.

Source: Food Safety Act, 2019.

Mandatory label information and Zambia food label language

Under the continuing food labelling regulations, these are mandatory:

• on the main panel, the brand or trade name where applicable, the common name and net contents;
• a complete ingredient list in descending order for multi-ingredient foods, unless exempt;
• declarations of specified preservatives, added colours and artificial flavourings; and
• the name and address of the manufacturer, packer, distributor, importer, exporter or vendor.

English is mandatory for every required statement. Other languages may be added, so an imported product cannot rely on a foreign-language label alone.

Source: Food and Drugs Act subsidiary legislation, and Interpretation and General Provisions Act.

Zambia nutrition label requirements

ZABS publishes ZS 033 Part 3, Guidelines for nutrition labelling. Official sources do not confirm a nutrition panel as mandatory on every pre-packaged food.

ZCSA explains that Zambian standards are voluntary unless given compulsory status, and its labelling guidance says it inspects products against ZS 033 Parts 1 and 2. Part 3 is described as guidance, so nutrition labelling is voluntary unless a compulsory product standard requires it.

Source: ZABS, ZS 033 standards catalogue, and ZCSA, Standards.

Zambia imported food labelling and relabelling

Under section 20 of the Food Safety Act, food that does not comply with the Act may not be imported. Non-compliant food may be allowed in solely for relabelling or reconditioning; if this is not done within the set period, it must be exported or may be forfeited.

ZCSA states that producers and importers of products under compulsory standards must comply before supply, and it inspects packaging and labelling.

Source: ZCSA, Compulsory standards.

Sources

Primary documents this page was written from, checked 2026-10-04.

• Food Safety Act, 2019
• Food and Drugs Act subsidiary legislation
• Interpretation and General Provisions Act
• ZABS, ZS 033 standards catalogue
• ZCSA, Standards
• ZCSA, Compulsory standards

How NFL handles it

• Applies the correct rounding rules for every nutrient
• Uses the right Daily Value / Reference Intake table for this jurisdiction
• Renders the required front-of-pack warnings automatically when thresholds are hit
• Handles multilingual labels where required (bilingual EN/FR, EN/ES, Arabic + EN, etc.)
• Exports print-ready vector PDF, PNG, SVG, JPG, and EPS

Common questions

Related formats

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• Open the generator: free account, no credit card
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