DO NOT EAT (crossed-out figure eating)
The sachet, pad or insert inside the pack is not food and must not be eaten. It marks ‘active and intelligent’ packaging parts, which absorb something from the pack (such as liquid or oxygen) or release something into it, whenever such a part could be mistaken for something edible.
Set by EU law
Where the rule comes from
Regulation (EC) No 450/2009, Article 11(1): such parts ‘shall be labelled, whenever they are perceived as edible: (a) with the words “DO NOT EAT”; and (b) always where technically possible, with the symbol reproduced in Annex I’. In Great Britain the symbol was dropped from 31 December 2022; only the words are required there.
- What it looks like
- A head in profile with an open mouth and a hand lifting a small packet towards it, the whole figure struck through by a large X. Beside it, or instead of it, the words DO NOT EAT.
- Other names
- do not eat symbol; non-edible symbol; the Annex I symbol of Regulation 450/2009; symbol on oxygen absorber and silica sachets
What it does not promise
It does not say what is in the sachet or how harmful it would be; the regulation only requires that a part perceived as edible is marked so nobody eats it. It also does not cover other inedible packaging: the rule is for active and intelligent materials only.
Where makers differ
The words are always required and must be printed at least 3 mm high; the drawing only ‘where technically possible’. Since 31 December 2022 packs made for Great Britain need only the words, so the figure may be missing there.
Often confused with
The item is meant to come into contact with food. It is one of three ways the EU allows a maker to say so: the words ‘for food contact’, a description of the use (such as ‘wine bottle’ or ‘soup spoon’), or this symbol.
Sources
The law comes first, then how makers and shops describe the mark. Each page was fetched and read on the date shown:
- EUR-Lex (Official Journal of the European Union): Commission Regulation (EC) No 450/2009 on active and intelligent materials and articles intended to come into contact with food — Article 11 and Annex I — The official text (OJ L 135, 30.5.2009, p. 3). Article 11(1): to allow the consumer to identify non-edible parts, active and intelligent materials ‘shall be labelled, whenever they are perceived as edible: (a) with the words “DO NOT EAT”; and (b) always where technically possible, with the symbol reproduced in Annex I’. Article 11(2): printed ‘in characters of a font size of at least 3 mm’. EUR-Lex answered our scripted fetch with a browser check, so we read the same Official Journal pages in the FAOLEX copy (next source). Checked 2026-09-24.
- FAOLEX (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations): Commission Regulation (EC) No 450/2009 — copy of Official Journal L 135, 30.5.2009, pp. 3–11 — The Official Journal pages as printed: Article 11 as quoted above and, on page L 135/10, Annex I ‘SYMBOL’ — a head in profile with a hand raising a small packet to the open mouth, crossed out by a large X. Checked 2026-09-24.
- legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives, UK): Regulation (EC) No 450/2009, Article 11 — as it applies in Great Britain — In Great Britain Article 11(1) now requires labelling ‘with the words “DO NOT EAT”’ only; the words were substituted and Annex I (the symbol) omitted from 31.12.2022 by The Food and Feed (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/1351). Checked 2026-09-24.
- European Commission (DG Health and Consumers): Symbols to label food contact materials — working document SANCO E3/FV, 15 September 2009 — Reproduces the ‘DO NOT EAT symbol’ with Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 450/2009: parts perceived as edible are labelled with the words DO NOT EAT and, always where technically possible, with the symbol. Checked 2026-09-24.
- European Commission (DG Health and Food Safety): Food contact materials — Legislation (active and intelligent materials) — Explains that active and intelligent materials work ‘by releasing or absorbing substances to or from the food or its surrounding environment’ — for example absorbing liquid or oxygen from the pack, or releasing preservatives — and fall under Regulation (EC) No 450/2009. Checked 2026-09-24.
Written in our own words; quotations are the sources’ wording.