Understanding labels on food products
Published by Bupa's health information team, healthinfo@bupa.com, April 2008
Food labels often provide a lot of nutritional information, but they can be a little hard to decipher at times. This article tells you about the main points to look for the next time you are in the supermarket, and one or two pitfalls to avoid.
Why do we need food labels?
Food labels are there to inform and guide us in the food choices we make. Among other things, they show us what each food contains, how fresh it is and how to prepare it. The labels are also there to help us eat more healthily.
Since the 1980s, obesity has trebled in the UK, and more than half of all adults are now either overweight or obese. Obesity is a major risk factor for high blood pressure, heart attacks, heart failure and diabetes. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) believes that signposting potentially unhealthy ingredients such as salt, sugar and saturated fat can help us to avoid these serious health problems.
What does food labelling cover?
Food labelling is strictly governed by law. It's illegal for labels to carry false information or make misleading claims. For example, only yoghurts that actually contain strawberries can be called strawberry yoghurt. Otherwise, they must be labelled as strawberry-flavour yoghurt.
By law, food packaging also has to carry certain information, including the name of the food, its weight or volume and storage guidelines. Many food labels also carry additional information, such as nutritional information and allergy warnings for people who are allergic to certain foods.
What is required by law?
Food manufacturers and retailers are legally obliged to put certain information on food labels in order to protect and help consumers. This information includes the following.
- A list of ingredients, starting with the largest ingredient and ending with the smallest.
- The weight or volume of the product.
- The name of the food. Foods with a brand name must also carry a clear description of that food. If the food has been processed, this must be clearly stated on the label (for example, "smoked salmon" or "dried apricots").
- Storage instructions, which must tell you the best way to store foods to prevent them going off.
- The use-by date should appear on foods that go off quickly, such as meat and fish to tell you how long the food can safely be kept in the recommended storage conditions. You do need to stick to the use-by date, as the foods it appears on can cause food poisoning if they are kept for too long. Some foods have a best-before date. After this date, the food may lose some of its flavour or texture so it is no longer at its "best", but it's unlikely to cause food poisoning.
- Preparation instructions should be clear and the label should include instructions for cooking.
- Any genetically modified (GM) ingredients must be listed (this doesn't apply to meat, milk and eggs that come from animals that have been fed with GM products).
- The name and address of the manufacturer so you can find out more about the product.
What about nutritional information?
Nutritional information is not required by law on food labels, unless the food makes a nutritional claim, such as "low fat". However, many manufacturers provide a breakdown of how much energy (calories), protein, carbohydrates, fat, fibre and salt (sodium) each food contains.
Front of pack information
Although it's not a legal requirement, some larger retailers also provide nutritional information on the front of their packaging, to help you shop more healthily. There are two main systems for this: the traffic light system and the guideline daily amounts (GDA) system.
Traffic light system
This system is recommended by the FSA. It uses the colours red, amber and green to show you how much sugar, salt, saturates (saturated fat) and fat each food contains, along with the number of grams per serving.
Green, amber and red indicate low, medium and high amounts respectively, so that you can see at a glance whether a food is healthy or not. The idea is that we will be able to choose more items with green traffic lights and fewer with red traffic lights.
Guideline daily amounts (GDA) system
This is an alternative food labelling system developed independently by a group of large food retailers. GDAs are there to tell you how much sugar, salt, saturates and fat you should be having in one day. Labels using the GDA system show how many grams of sugar, salt, saturates and fat a portion of food contains, but without the colour coding. They also tell you what percentage of your GDA for sugar, salt, saturates and fat the food contains. For example, the pictured label shows this food contains 6.3g of sugar; the GDA for sugar for the average UK woman is 90g, so this particular food will provide a woman with seven percent of her recommended GDA.
Tips for using food labels
- Check ingredients carefully if you have a food allergy, as not all labels carry specific allergy warnings.
- Stick to use-by dates, as the risk of food poisoning increases once these dates have passed.
- Even if a label makes a nutritional claim such as "low-fat", check the nutritional information carefully because there are no legal definitions of "low", "reduced" or "high", and products may vary.
- Follow storage, defrosting and cooking instructions carefully, to avoid food poisoning.
Further information
- Food Standards Agency
www.eatwell.gov.uk - British Nutrition Foundation
020 7404 6504
www.nutrition.org.uk - GDA campaign website
www.whatsinsideguide.com
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