A blank, fillable specification sheet for one finished product — identity, ingredient statement, allergens, the physical, chemical, and micro specs, shelf life and storage, case and pallet configuration, and GTIN — so one document answers what the product is, every time, for a co-packer, an auditor, or a retail buyer.
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This is the one-page fact sheet for a single finished product — everything a co-packer, an auditor, or a retail buyer needs to know about it without picking up the jar. Fill one out per product and per size, keep it under version control, and hand the current revision to anyone who asks what is in the box.
How to use this template
A spec sheet is the definitive description of one finished product: what it is supposed to be, every time you make it. That is the difference between this and a batch record — the batch production record says what one run actually did, while the spec sheet says what every run has to match. It is where your ingredient statement, allergen call, target specs, shelf life, pack-out, and barcode live as facts rather than as memory.
Fill each field with the real value for your product, drawn from the source that owns it — your formulation for the ingredient statement, your hazard analysis and stability study for the specs and shelf life, your production line for the pack-out, and GS1 for your barcode numbers. Number and date every revision so everyone works from the same version, and re-issue the sheet whenever a fact on it changes. Handed to a retail buyer or distributor, this same sheet is the product half of the supplier packet the lesson on getting into stores walks through. Download a blank copy to adapt for your own products.
The example specs here are not yours
Every pH, water activity, micro limit, shelf life, dimension, and barcode number shown below is an illustration to make the fields legible. Your values come from your own formulation, your hazard analysis, your validated stability study, and your GS1-assigned numbers — never from the sample entries here. Replace every one before this sheet leaves your building.
Product identity
The top block names the product unambiguously. The is the regulated name, not your marketing name; the two can differ, and the sheet carries both.
Field
Example
Your entry
Product name (brand)
Casa Verde Roasted Tomato Salsa, Medium
Statement of identity
Roasted tomato salsa
Internal SKU / item code
SAL-16M
Manufacturer (legal entity, FDA facility #)
Casa Verde Foods LLC · FFR on file
Net contents (as declared on label)
Net wt 16 oz (454 g)
Retail package
16 oz glass jar, tamper-evident lug cap
Selling-unit GTIN-12 (UPC-A)
0 12345 67890 5
Country of origin
USA
Spec revision
Rev. 3
Effective date
07/15/2026
Prepared / approved by
Sam Ortiz, QA Lead
Ingredient statement
The on this sheet must read letter-for-letter the same as the one on the label. It is derived from your recipe by weight, so it changes whenever the formula does. The anatomy of a compliant label lesson covers the ordering and naming rules.
Two questions, answered per allergen: is it in the product, and does it share equipment or a line with the product even when it is not an ingredient. Both belong on the sheet, because a buyer and an auditor read the second column as carefully as the first. There are nine major food allergens — the , with sesame added as the ninth effective January 1, 2023. Keep this column in step with your allergen matrix; the allergens and the Big 9 lesson covers the declaration rules.
Major allergen
In this product? (Y / N)
On shared equipment or line? (Y / N)
Notes
Milk
N
N
Egg
N
N
Fish
N
N
Crustacean shellfish
N
N
Tree nuts
N
N
Peanuts
N
N
Wheat
N
Y
(example) shares line with a wheat-containing product
Soybeans
N
N
Sesame
N
N
Field
Example
Your entry
"Contains" statement (as on label)
(example) none — no major allergen is an ingredient
Advisory statement (shared line / "may contain")
(example) "Made on shared equipment with wheat," if your cleaning validation does not support its absence
Product specifications
The measurable targets a batch has to hit to be released as this product. Set each one from your own formulation, hazard analysis, and validation, and give each the test method that decides pass or fail.
Physical and organoleptic
Parameter
Specification (example)
Method
Appearance
Uniform chunky red salsa, visible pepper and onion pieces
Visual vs. standard
Color
Deep red-orange
Visual vs. retained standard
Aroma and flavor
Roasted, medium heat, no off-notes
Sensory panel
Consistency
Holds on a chip; 6–9 cm flow / 30 s
Bostwick consistometer
Net weight
16 oz (454 g), within your fill tolerance
Check-weigh
Foreign material
None
Visual, sieve, metal detection
Chemical
Parameter
Specification (example)
Method
Equilibrium pH
≤ 3.8
Calibrated pH meter
Water activity (aw)
≤ 0.92
Water-activity meter
Titratable acidity
≥ 0.6% as citric acid
Titration
Salt
1.8–2.2%
Titration / calculation
Soluble solids
9–11 °Brix
Refractometer
For a shelf-stable acidified product like this example, the pH target is not a quality preference — it is a safety control tied to your scheduled process. FDA's acidified-foods rule (21 CFR 114) governs it, and a process authority sets and validates the number. Use the pH your process authority established, never the figure shown here.
Microbiological
Parameter
Specification (example)
Method
Aerobic plate count
≤ 10,000 CFU/g
Recognized reference method
Yeast and mold
≤ 100 CFU/g
Recognized reference method
Coliforms
< 10 CFU/g
Recognized reference method
E. coli
Not detected
Recognized reference method
Salmonella
Not detected / 25 g
Recognized reference method
Listeria monocytogenes
Not detected / 25 g
Recognized reference method
Micro limits and the methods behind them come from your hazard analysis, your customer's specification, and the lab you use — the sample limits above are only illustrations. State the specific method and the lab on the sheet so a result can be repeated.
Shelf life and storage
Shelf life is a claim you have to be able to support, not a guess. The basis is a real stability study; the storage conditions are the ones under which that claim holds. The lesson on shelf life and expiry works through setting and supporting the number.
Field
Example
Your entry
Shelf life (unopened)
18 months
Basis for shelf life
Real-time + accelerated stability study on file (ref. SS-2026-04)
Date-code format on package
"BEST BY MM/YYYY" plus lot code
Storage before opening
Ambient, 50–75°F (10–24°C), dry, out of direct sun
Storage after opening
Refrigerate at or below 40°F (4°C), use within 30 days
Distribution / handling
Ships ambient; protect from freezing
Case and pallet configuration
A buyer's warehouse plans truck and rack space around the physical facts of your pack-out, so the numbers have to be exact and internally consistent. The two derived rows below are simple arithmetic — get them wrong and the mismatch comes back later as a deduction.
Field
Example
Your entry
Selling units per case (case pack)
12
Case dimensions (L × W × H)
12.5 × 9.5 × 5.5 in
Case net weight (case pack × unit net)
12 × 16 oz = 192 oz = 12 lb
Case gross weight
15.8 lb
Case GTIN-14
(from GS1)
Pallet type
48 × 40 in GMA, 4-way
Cases per layer (Ti)
10
Layers per pallet (Hi)
5
Cases per pallet (Ti × Hi)
10 × 5 = 50
Selling units per pallet (case pack × cases/pallet)
12 × 50 = 600
Pallet gross weight (approx.)
(50 × 15.8 lb) + ~40 lb pallet ≈ 830 lb
drives the last two rows. Cases per pallet is Ti times Hi (10 × 5 = 50), and selling units per pallet is the case pack times that (12 × 50 = 600). Whatever pattern you actually palletize to is the one that goes on the sheet.
GTIN and barcode
The product carries a number at two levels, and a buyer scans both. The number in the identity block is the selling unit's barcode; the shipping case gets its own.
Level
GTIN
Where it appears
Selling unit (the jar)
GTIN-12 in a UPC-A barcode
Retail shelf, checkout scanner
Shipping case
GTIN-14 with an indicator digit
Case label, distributor scanner
A is twelve digits: eleven that identify the product — your GS1 Company Prefix plus your item reference — and a twelfth check digit that a scanner uses to catch a misread. The check digit is a mod-10 calculation from the first eleven, so you do not choose it. In the example 0 12345 67890 5, the trailing 5 is that calculated digit. Get the first eleven from GS1 directly and let your barcode software compute the last; a resold third-party "barcode" can trace to another company's prefix and a verifying buyer will reject it. The getting into stores lesson covers where the numbers come from and what a buyer checks.
Revision history and approval
A spec sheet is version-controlled: every change gets a new revision, dated and approved, so no one ships against a stale copy. Keep the history on the sheet.
Revision
Date
Change summary
Approved by
(example) Rev. 1
01/10/2026
Initial release
Sam Ortiz, QA Lead
(example) Rev. 2
04/22/2026
Shelf life set to 18 months after stability study SS-2026-04
