Food labels

Food labels contain a lot of information and can be very confusing if you are trying to make healthy choices.

Nutrition tables

All prepacked foods must have nutrition information, usually on the back or side of a packet, usually in the form of a table, unless the package is very small.

Here is an example of what a table may look like. The information must be provided per 100g of the food, it is optional if manufacturers provide information per serving. Just remember that the serving a manufacturer gives may not be the serving size you or your child would eat.

What does each item in the label mean?

  • Energy: given as KJ and kcal - KJ is the metric equivalent of kcal - this is the total energy provided

  • Fat: total of all types of fat within the food

  • Of which saturates: total of saturated fat only

  • Carbohydrates: total for starch and sugars in within the food

  • Of which sugars: total includes naturally occurring sugar e.g. in milk (lactose) and in fruit (fructose) and any added sugars

  • Fibre: the amount of fibre provided

  • Protein: the amount of protein provided

  • Salt/sodium: salt content within the food - if only sodium is given is needs to be multiplied by 2.5 to get the salt equivalent

  • %RI: reference intake is how much an average adult female requiring 2000kcal a day required - the percentage shows how much of this daily requirement is met by this food

Traffic light labelling

All food manufacturers use the same information to decide what traffic light colours go on their foods, but this is voluntary guidance in the UK, so not all manufacturers display these. It is always based on 100g of the food.

You can work out the traffic light colours for yourself for products that don’t have the front of pack labelling. Use this table to compare with the quantities (per 100g) from some food labels you have at home.

Criteria for 100g of food:

Note: portion size criteria applies to portions/serving sizes greater than 100g.

  • Mostly greens = LOW - this is the healthiest choice, and you can eat in larger amounts

  • Mostly ambers = MEDIUM - this food is neither high nor low in a nutrient and can be eaten quite often

  • Mostly reds = HIGH - the more reds on the front, the less healthy the food is likely to be, OK occasionally or in small amounts but not regularly

A bag of jelly or boiled sweets will show as green on the traffic light system for the fat, saturated fat and salt content so therefore look healthy with only one red. But look closer, that one red could be extremely high for this one food and therefore be a less healthy choice e.g. sugar content for the day should be no more than 7 cubes and a typical bag of jelly sweets are significantly over this amount.

Front of pack labels

Simplified nutritional information can sometimes be found on the front of some pre-packed foods.

These will show a summary of the energy, fat, saturated fat, total sugars and salt in a portion of the product and the calories per 100g/ml. Some products may just give you the energy.

Just remember the information given here is per portion – the portion size is given in small writing above the blocks.

The use of traffic light colour coding is voluntary on the front of the information.

Ingredient lists

Ingredients are listed in order of weight, so the main ingredient in the packaged food will always come first. It is listed from the highest amount to lowest amount.

The ingredients list can help you work out how healthy the product is.

If the first few ingredients are high fat ingredients, such as cream, butter, or oil then the food in question is a high fat food.

If the first few ingredients are high sugar ingredients, such as syrup, honey, sugar, glucose, then the food is a high sugar food.

The 14 main food allergens must be printed in bold in the ingredients list, so it is easy to check if they are in that food e.g. milk, fish, soya, gluten.

Health claims

Any claims made about the nutritional and health benefits of a food must be approved and based on science. General claims about benefits to overall good health, such as ‘healthy’ or ‘good for you’, are only allowed if accompanied by an approved claim. This means that these claims must be backed up by an explanation of why the food is healthy e.g. ‘may help lower cholesterol levels as part of a balanced diet’. Labels on food are not allowed to claim that food can treat, prevent, or cure any disease or medical condition.

Light or lite?

To say that a food is "light" or "lite", it must be at least 30% lower in at least one typical value when compared to standard products. The label must explain exactly what has been reduced and by how much, for example e.g. ‘30% less fat’.

Low fat

A claim that a food is low in fat may only be made where the product contains:

  • no more than 3g of fat per 100g for solids; or

  • 1.5g of fat per 100ml for liquids (1.8g of fat per 100ml for semi-skimmed milk)

No added sugar

The food has not had sugar added to it as an ingredient. The food might still taste sweet and can contain natural sugars (but we don’t need to reduce intake of these sugars). It’s worth noting that artificial sweeteners may still have been added.

Unsweetened

No sugar or sweetener has been added to the food to make it taste sweet. The food may still contain naturally occurring sugars found in fruit or milk.

Food allergies and intolerances

Sometimes when some of us eat a specific type of food, it can make us feel unwell and trigger an unpleasant reaction from our body. If this reaction is repeated whenever we eat that certain type of food, it can mean we have a food intolerance or food allergy. What are these and what is the difference?

A food intolerance means that our body can’t digest a specific type of food easily, which causes us to feel unwell. Some of the typical food intolerance symptoms are bloating, tummy pain, diarrhoea, being sick, constipation or skin symptoms such as eczema. These symptoms usually come several hours after eating the trigger food. Although food intolerance as such isn’t dangerous, it is not pleasant. Food intolerance is usually diagnosed by observation and through completing a food diary. The most common intolerances are lactose intolerance, when the body lacks the enzyme that breaks down milk sugar (lactose) or gluten intolerance (gluten is found in wheat).

A food allergy is a bit more serious than a food intolerance. When someone is allergic to a certain food, eating it causes a reaction from our immune system – the body mistakes the food for something dangerous that needs to be fought. The symptoms usually come very soon after eating the food – often immediately. They can be similar to food intolerance symptoms – tummy pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, itching or swelling of the skin, sneezing, wheeze or cough. If the allergy is very strong and severe, it can cause a serious reaction called anaphylaxis, which can be very dangerous and requires us to call an ambulance.

There are 14 main allergens which need to be mentioned when they are used as ingredients in a meal or food product. These are: celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, mollusc, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, soya and sulphur dioxide (sulphites).

Although these are the main and most common ones, you could be allergic to any food.

If certain food makes you feel unwell or causes your tummy to ache, speak to your doctor who can do tests or refer you to a dietitian.