The spec sheet in English. The fields buyers actually ask for.
In English, a food product's scheda tecnica is called a product specification or a technical data sheet. It's the document that decides whether your conversation with a foreign buyer carries on.
Three different people read the spec sheet, and each of them is looking for something different on the same page: purchasing, the quality manager, the freight forwarder. If the section for one of them is missing, the enquiry doesn't come back with a question. It just stops.
The section that's almost always missing is logistics: units per carton, cartons per layer, layers per pallet, weight and dimensions. Without those numbers the buyer can't work out the freight cost per unit, so they don't know what they'll resell at, so they don't decide.
Below you'll find every field explained, and an English template to copy. You don't need nice design: you need all the fields to be there, and one valid version, with the update date at the top.
This guide is written by Itria, which builds tailored AI systems for Italian SMEs. For producers who export, it builds the system that prepares the spec sheet in each buyer's language from the product data, keeps it up to date when a figure changes, and has a person approve it before it goes out.
This piece is part of the guide to export operations for small food producers and covers the third of its eight steps: the one that comes straight after working out whether the buyer is serious.
Why an incomplete spec sheet stalls the deal without a word
The buyer doesn't read the sheet alone. They pass it round internally, and from then on your document is opened by three people who don't talk to each other:
- Purchasing looks at what it is, what it costs to move and whether it fits their range.
- The quality manager checks whether the product meets the rules of their country and their chain: allergens, nutrition values, storage, production site.
- The freight forwarder only looks at numbers: how many units fit on a pallet, how much it weighs, what customs code it has.
Few producers put it online. On 26 September 2026 we read 121 food producers' websites one by one, and only 19 offer a spec sheet to download: 13 of the 25 wineries and 6 of the other 96 producers. The method and the data are in our study of food producers' websites.
If one of the three can't find their part, that person doesn't write to you. They tell their colleague “the data's missing”, and the colleague moves on to the next supplier, who has already filled it in. All you see is silence, and you read it as a no on price.
Silence after you send the spec sheet is nearly always a missing figure, not a rejection.
The fields, one by one
Grouped by who reads them. The right-hand column explains why each field exists, which is how you work out which ones you can leave out and which you can't.
| Field | What goes in | Why they ask for it |
|---|---|---|
| Nameproduct name | The legal name of the product, not the brand name. “Extra virgin olive oil”, not just the name of the range. |
It's the name that will end up at customs and on the label. A made-up name on its own isn't enough to classify the goods. |
| Ingredientsingredients | All of them, in descending order of weight, with percentages where needed. |
The quality manager needs them to check the product is allowed in the destination country. |
| Allergensallergens | Highlighted, following the list in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011. Include any cross-contamination too. |
It's the first field anyone checks, and the only one that can get the product rejected for safety rather than commercial reasons. |
| Nutrition valuesnutrition | Per 100 g or 100 ml: energy, fat, of which saturates, carbohydrate, of which sugars, protein, salt. |
These are the seven values that have been mandatory on labels since 2016. If they're not on the sheet, the buyer can't prepare their own label. |
| Shelf lifetotal and remaining | The product's total shelf life and the remaining shelf life guaranteed at dispatch. |
Many importers require a minimum remaining shelf life on arrival. Without this field, they can't take you on as a supplier. |
| Storagestorage | Temperature, storage conditions and transport conditions. |
It decides how the goods can travel and what it costs to move them. |
| Pack size and net weightunit | The contents of a single unit and the type of packaging. |
It's the unit the buyer bases the shelf price on. |
| BarcodeGTIN / EAN | The code for the unit and, if there is one, the code for the carton. |
Without a barcode the product can't get into retail chains' systems. |
| Logistics datathe missing section | Units per carton, carton dimensions and gross weight, cartons per layer, layers per pallet, pallet type and height, weight of the full pallet. |
These are the numbers used to work out the freight cost per unit. Without them the buyer can't finish the sums, and the enquiry dies here. |
| Customs codeHS code | The first six digits are international. Include the origin of the goods as well. |
It determines the duty the buyer will pay, so it goes into their costings before they order. |
| Production siteand certifications | Details of the production site, and certifications with the certifying body and number: organic, PDO, PGI, kosher, halal, food safety standards. |
Some markets and some chains only accept registered or certified sites. It's a yes-or-no filter, not a selling point. |
The template, to download or copy
The same thirty-three fields come in two forms. The file, if you'd like to start from a document that's already laid out. The block of text below, if you'd rather copy it into your own template.
| File | When to use it | Link |
|---|---|---|
| EnglishWord, to fill in | The copy you keep updated in-house, and the source of the one you send out. |
|
| EnglishPDF, to attach | The copy you send the buyer once the sheet is final and won't change again. |
|
| ItalianWord and PDF | The Italian version, to keep in line with the first: same fields, same order, so you can compare them at a glance. |
The files are free. There's no form in the way, we don't ask for an email address, and we don't get notified when anyone downloads them. The page with all four, and an explanation of when to use Word and when PDF, is the food product spec sheet template, ready to download.
If you'd rather copy the fields into your own document, here's the skeleton. Fill it in with your own data and keep it to a single page: the person who receives it should be able to pass it on without attaching anything else.
PRODUCT TECHNICAL DATA SHEET Last updated: DD/MM/YYYY Version: 1.0 1. PRODUCT Legal name .............. Brand / line ............ Country of origin ....... Italy HS code ................. Net weight / volume ..... Packaging type .......... Units per case .......... GTIN (unit) ............. GTIN (case) ............. 2. INGREDIENTS AND ALLERGENS Ingredients ............. (descending order by weight) Allergens ............... (per Annex II, Reg. EU 1169/2011) May contain ............. (cross-contamination, if any) GMO status .............. 3. NUTRITION (per 100 g / 100 ml) Energy .................. kJ / kcal Fat ..................... g of which saturates .... g Carbohydrate ............ g of which sugars ....... g Protein ................. g Salt .................... g 4. SHELF LIFE AND STORAGE Total shelf life ........ months Minimum residual life ... months guaranteed on despatch Storage conditions ...... Transport conditions .... 5. LOGISTICS Case dimensions ......... L x W x H cm Case gross weight ....... kg Cases per layer ......... Layers per pallet ....... Cases per pallet ........ Pallet type ............. EUR / other Pallet height ........... cm Pallet gross weight ..... kg 6. PRODUCER Company ................. Production site ......... Certifications .......... (body and number) Contact .................
Two notes on using it. The Last updated line at the top is worth more than it looks: it's what lets you and the buyer know you're looking at the same document. And fill in the logistics section even when it seems obvious, because it's the only part the buyer can't work out for themselves.
The five mistakes that stall an enquiry
- Sending your sales brochure instead of the spec sheet. Photos and awards don't answer any of the three readers' questions. They can go alongside it, not in its place.
- Leaving out the remaining shelf life. Giving only the total forces the buyer to ask, and asking is the point where deals get lost.
- Leaving the palletisation data “to be confirmed”. It's like asking the buyer to cost the freight without telling them what the goods weigh.
- Letting several versions of the same sheet circulate. Three different files in the same inbox mean that sooner or later someone sends the old data, and old data on a shipped order becomes a dispute.
- Translating only the headings. A sheet with English headings and Italian content wastes the time of exactly the person who has to approve you.
This list covers what the commercial negotiation needs. It doesn't replace compliance for the product label, which is a separate and mandatory matter: Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires mandatory information to appear “in a language easily understood by the consumers of the Member States where a food is marketed”.
In plain terms: the spec sheet in English gets you chosen, the label in the country's language lets you sell. Two documents, two purposes and two different moments, and mixing them up can cost you a shipment held at customs.
When the spec sheet stops being a file and becomes a problem
While you have five products and one market, updating the sheet by hand works fine. The problem comes later, and always the same way: twelve products, four languages, two certifications to renew, and a recipe change that has to be carried across forty-eight documents.
At that point the job is no longer writing a spec sheet, it's keeping versions in line, and versions that drift apart are how a serious business sends the wrong figure to a serious customer. Where that work gets repetitive, assisted drafting of the language versions saves hours, on one condition that matters more than the technology: there's still only one approved version, and a person approves it.
Questions and answers
What should the English spec sheet for a food product include?
Three sections, because three different people read it. For purchasing: name, description, pack size, net weight, GTIN code, certifications. For the quality manager: ingredients in descending order of weight, allergens highlighted according to Annex II of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, nutrition values per 100 g or 100 ml, total and remaining shelf life, storage, production site details. For the freight forwarder: units per carton, dimensions and weight, cartons per pallet, customs code, origin.
The third section is the one most often missing, and it's the one that stalls the deal.
Why does the buyer go quiet after receiving the spec sheet?
Most of the time because they can't do the final sum. Without palletisation data they can't work out the freight cost per unit, so they don't know what they'll resell at, so they can't decide.
And they don't come back to ask: they move on to the supplier who has already written it down. Silence after you send the spec sheet is nearly always a missing figure, not a no on price.
Is the spec sheet in English enough, or do I need German too?
English is the minimum, and in most cases it's enough for the negotiation. German is a real competitive edge: Germany is one of the biggest markets for Italian food, and getting the sheet in their own language saves work for the person who has to assess it.
Don't mix them up: the language of the spec sheet is a commercial choice, the language of the label on the product is a legal requirement.
What's the difference between a spec sheet and a product specification?
In commercial practice the two terms are used interchangeably, and in English you'll come across product specification, technical data sheet or product sheet.
The useful distinction is who it's for, not what it's called: there's a document that sells (photos, pack size, sales points) and one that gets the product through the buyer's checks (allergens, nutrition values, production site). The best document combines both on a single page, because the person who receives it passes it on to three others.
How often should it be updated?
Every time something written on it changes: a recipe, an ingredient supplier, a pack size, the packaging, a renewed certification.
But the rule that prevents damage is a different one: there must be one valid version only, with the last-updated date visible at the top. Once three versions of the same sheet are circulating, sooner or later someone sends an old shelf life, and on an order that has already shipped, that becomes a dispute.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011: Annex II for the list of substances causing allergies or intolerances; Articles 30 onwards for the values in the nutrition declaration, mandatory per 100 g or 100 ml; Article 15 for the language of mandatory information.
- The logistics fields and remaining shelf life practices don't come from any law: they're recurring commercial requirements, presented here as practice, not obligation.
One spec sheet, kept up to date, in every language you need.
It's one of the things the Cruscotto keeps together, along with buyers' enquiries and the dates nobody looks at. At Itria we start from the outside and build tailored digital systems for exporters. For you, that means more enquiries, fewer losses and less manual work. Drop us a line about what's slowing you down. We'll make the first move: we'll look at what a buyer sees when they search for you, and tell you what we found. Even if we never end up working together.