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The archive

Every label, taken apart.

Every teardown so far, newest first. Each one ends with the label, regulation or filing it's built on.

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  • Sourced
  • Dated
  • From the plant floor
Costco often sells your groceries before it pays for them

Nov 1, 2026

Costco often sells your groceries before it pays for them

What a Costco order asks of the plant that fills it, and how to read the back of a Kirkland package

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy
The bag says no added nitrites. The same bag in Britain says sodium nitrite.

Oct 25, 2026

The bag says no added nitrites. The same bag in Britain says sodium nitrite.

What cultured celery is, how a smokehouse turns 161 grams of beef into 100 grams of jerky, and the one number USDA deleted last September

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy
Two products share the name soy sauce, and only one of them was brewed

Oct 18, 2026

Two products share the name soy sauce, and only one of them was brewed

What 6 months in a tank does that a day in a reactor can't, the chemical only one of them makes, and why the brewed bottle barely costs more

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy
Barilla is made in Iowa, and a court just said the flag never claimed otherwise

Oct 11, 2026

Barilla is made in Iowa, and a court just said the flag never claimed otherwise

What a flag on a box is allowed to mean, what the die and the dryer actually do, and what the imported box buys you

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy
Nutella is 13% hazelnuts, and that number is a supply decision

Oct 4, 2026

Nutella is 13% hazelnuts, and that number is a supply decision

Why Ferrero holds the nut where it is, what a jar costs to make, and what the 2025 frost did to it

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy
The pumpkin costs 6 cents. The can costs 19.

Sep 23, 2026

The pumpkin costs 6 cents. The can costs 19.

Why canned pumpkin is really squash, how one corner of Illinois packs a year of it in 6 weeks, and what an ounce costs whole, cut and canned

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy
Coffee-mate costs less to make than half-and-half

Sep 23, 2026

Coffee-mate costs less to make than half-and-half

What's in the bottle, how a plant builds a cream substitute out of soybean oil, and why the real thing sells for less

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy
Your cinnamon is almost certainly cassia

Sep 23, 2026

Your cinnamon is almost certainly cassia

Which tree your cinnamon came from, what happens to the bark on its way into the jar, and the risk actually worth watching

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy
The 100% parmesan had no parmesan in it

Sep 23, 2026

The 100% parmesan had no parmesan in it

Why parmesan's 10 month clock shapes every canister on the shelf, and what the plant does to the cheese on its way into the shaker

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Philadelphia in the tub isn't cream cheese

Sep 23, 2026

The Philadelphia in the tub isn't cream cheese

What one word on the tub changes, and where in the plant that change is made

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy
Triple washed salad is washed in chlorinated water

Sep 23, 2026

Triple washed salad is washed in chlorinated water

What actually happens to a bag of spring mix between the field and the shelf

The Food Manufacturing Guy
The Food Manufacturing Guy

One label. Every Sunday. Free.

What's on the label, how the plant makes it, and what the front isn't telling you. Sources attached.

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The Food Manufacturing Guy

I make food for a living. One product taken apart every Sunday, with the regulation and the receipts attached.

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