Mastering the Art of Reading Food Labels: A Comprehensive Guide

Understanding food labels can help you take control of your health by helping you make healthier choices in the foods you buy. In Australia there are four main tools that are used on food products:

·         Nutrition Information Panels (NIPS) (compulsory)

·         Ingredients list (compulsory)

·         Daily Intake Guide (voluntary)

·         Health star rating (voluntary)

In this blog post I will just go through the NIPS and ingredients and how to understand them and what to look out for when choosing a product.

Nutrition Information Panel.

Reading food labels

 This panel shows the average amount of energy (in kilojoules or calories or both!), protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars and sodium per serve and per 100 g (or ml). If there are any other nutrients displayed this is often because the product will make a nutrition claim about the product and legally they need to display it. For example, if a product claims it is “high in fibre” it must show the fibre content.

Understanding Serving Sizes:

 Serving sizes, set by manufacturers, dictate the portion considered for nutritional information. It's crucial to differentiate between serving size and portion size – what's recommended may not align with individual preferences or dietary needs. Pay attention to the number of servings per package and assess whether the suggested serving size aligns with your consumption habits.

A really good example is Oak milk chocolate in a 600 ml carton.

As you can see the “servings per carton” is 2. Therefore, the nutrition panel only provides the nutrition for ½ of the carton. If you were to miss the serving size and think that this whole carton provides you with 1128 kj (268 calories) it wouldn’t seem so bad. But doubling it for most people would blow their calorie targets for the day.

 Unravelling Ingredients Lists:

Every packaged food sold in Australia and New Zealand must include an ingredients list. There are four main things to keep in mind:

1.      Sequence

·         Ingredients lists reveal what's inside the product, listed in descending order of quantity. So, if a product has sugar, salt (sodium) or fat listed in the first few ingredients it is likely to contain a large amount of these.

2.      Names: It can be challenging to spot added sugar, fat and salt as food companies like to put them under different names to disguise them. Below is a list of what to look out for.

Salt: Baking powder, celery salt, garlic salt, yeast extract, monosodium glutamate (MSG), onion salt, vegetable salt, rock salt, sodium nitrate.

Saturated Fat: Beef tallow or beef fat, butter, cream, coconut oil, hydrogenated oil, margarine, milk solids, palm oil, vegetable oil, shortening, full cream milk , powder, cocoa butter, copha, lard.

Sugar: Dextrose, fructose, glucose, honey, sucrose, malt, maltose, lactose, brown sugar, maple syrup, molasses, raw sugar, corn syrup.

3.    Percentage labelling

If a food product advertises a key food or ingredient they must show the percentage of the food in the product. For example, this almond milk contains 2.5% almonds.

4.      Allergens

Certain ingredients and substances found in food have the potential to trigger severe allergic reactions, therefore they must be declared in a food product. These allergens include peanuts, various tree nuts (such as cashews, almonds, and walnuts), crustaceans, fish, milk, eggs, sesame seeds, soybeans, wheat, and lupin. Additionally, sulphites (if added at concentrations of 10 mg or more per kilogram of food) and cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, oats, barley, rye, and spelt) must also be clearly disclosed. 

Interpreting Nutritional Values:

Nutritional panels provide vital information about energy, macronutrients, and other nutrients per serving and per 100 grams. When comparing two products it is best to compare them based on per 100 g. This is because the serving sizes will vary between brands.

What to look for:

 Below is a little cheat sheet of what to look for when reading food labels for each food category.

Conclusion:

 Mastering the art of reading food labels empowers you to make informed choices aligned with your health goals and dietary preferences.