Reading Food Labels
What is a food label? Most packaged foods require a label with important information to help us make informed choices about what we are eating. These mandatory requirements have been developed by ‘Food Standards Australia and New Zealand’ (FSANZ) where laws require all information on the label to be true and correct. Information required on a food label in Australia includes: •
Nutrition information panel: shows the average amount of energy, protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugar and sodium in a serve or per 100g/100mL. If a nutrition content claim is made, the amount of this particular nutrient/substance must also be shown on the nutrition information panel e.g. a product that claims that it is “high in calcium” must show how much calcium is in it
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Percentage labelling: shows the percentage of the key ingredient/component of the food to clarify how much of the product is made up of that claimed component e.g. percentage of mango in mango yoghurt
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Food identification: the name of the food must reflect the foods true nature e.g. mango yoghurt = yoghurt with real mango OR mango flavouring = mango flavoured yoghurt
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Food allergy/intolerance information: ingredients that act as potential allergens must be declared on foods e.g. nuts, crustacean, fish, milk, eggs, sesame, soybeans, wheat, lupin, sulphites (if >10mg/kg) and gluten containing cereals. ‘May contain’ statements are voluntary if a product is likely to be cross contaminated with allergens
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Date marking: indicate a products expiry. Use by dates are used for foods that should be eaten before a certain date for health/safety reasons. Best before dates are required on foods with a shelf life of <2 years, where it may still be safe to eat the food after the indicated date but it may have lost some quality and/or nutritive value
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Ingredients list: lists all the product’s components in descending order (highest to lowest) Truth: laws require all food labels to not be false, misleading or deceptive
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Food additives: must also be identified in the ingredients list, usually by their class name and number. A list of their full names is available on the FSANZ website
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Directions for use and storage: if there are specific storage conditions required for a food to keep before its use by/best before date or if the food must be used in accordance certain directions for health/safety reasons
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Legibility requirements: label must be English, legible and prominent/easily visible
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Country of origin: is required on all packaged and some unpackaged food in Australia
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Nutrition and health claims: claims about the contents/nutrients within the product. Nutrition content claims refer to the nutritional content of the food. Health claims refer to the relationship between the food or a property of the food and health. They can only be used if the food meets a certain criteria
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How to understand food labels What to look for? Don’t rely on health claims on labels as your guide. Instead learn a few simple label reading tips to choose healthy foods and drinks, for yourself. You can also use the label to help you lose weight by limiting foods that are high in energy per serve.
Nutrition Information Servings per package - 16 Serving size - 30g (2/3 cup)
Total Fat Generally choose foods with less than 10g per 100g. For milk, yogurt and icecream, choose less than 2g per 100g. For cheese, choose less than 15g per 100g
Per Serve
Per 100g
Energy
432kJ
1441kJ
Protein
2.8g
9.3g
100g Column and Serving Size If comparing nutrients in similar food products use the per 100g column. If calculating how much of a nutrient, or how many kilojoules you will actually eat, use the per serve column. But check whether your portion size is the same as the serve size.
Energy Check how many kJ per serve to decide how much is a serve of a ‘discretionary’ food, which has 600kJ per serve.
Fat
Saturated Fat Aim for the lowest per 100g. Less than 3g per 100g is best.
Other names for ingredients high in saturated fat: Animal fat/oil, beef fat, butter, chocolate, milk solids, coconut, coconut oil/milk/cream, copha, cream, ghee, sour cream, vegetable shortening.
Total
0.4g
1.2g
Saturated
0.1g
0.3g Sugar
Carbohydrate Total
18.9g
62.9g
Sugar
3.5g
11.8g
Fibre
Fibre
6.4g
21.2g
Not all labels include fibre. Choose breads and cereals with 3g or more per serve.
Sodium
65mg
Avoiding sugar completely is not necessary, but try to avoid larger amounts of added sugars. If sugar content per 100g is more then 15g, check that sugar (or alternative names for added sugar) is not listed high on the ingredient list. Other names for added sugar: Dextrose, fructose, glucose, golden syrup, honey, maple syrup, sucrose, malt, lactose, brown sugar, caster sugar, raw sugar.
215mg
Ingredients: Cereals (76%) (wheat, oat bran, barley), psyllium husk (11% sugar, rice, malt extract, honey, salt, vitamins.
Sodium (Salt)
Ingredients Listed from greatest to smallest by weight. Use this to check the first three ingredients from items high in saturated fat, sodium (salt) or added sugar.
Choose lower sodium options among similar foods. Food with less than 400mg per 100g are good, and less than 120mg per 100g is best. Other names for high salt ingredients: Baking powder, celery salt, garlic salt, meat/ yeast extract, monosodium glutamate, (MSG), onion salt, rock salt, sea salt, sodium bicarbonate, sodium nitrate, stock cubes, vegetable salt.
The nutrition information panel can be used to easily compare products and choose foods with less saturated fat, salt (sodium), added sugars and kilojoules (energy) and more fibre and/or other important/relevant nutrients. There are two different columns: •
Per serve: used to determine how many ‘serves’ you are consuming and thus how many kilojoules, grams of sugar/fat/salt you will be consuming in that serve/s
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Per 100g: can be used to compare products and choose the product with less saturated fat, added sugar and/or sodium
The ingredients list also indicates the components of the food from largest to smallest.
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What about the Health Star Rating (HSR) system?
The HSR was developed for use in Australia and New Zealand with the intention of providing convenient and easily understood front of pack labelling/nutrition information (‘at a glance’) and/ or guidance to assist us in making more informed food purchases and healthier eating choices. The more stars (out of 5) = the ‘healthier’ choice. Generally, it can be useful in comparing similar products and their overall quality, however the Nutrition Information Panel remains the most accurate depiction of the products nutritional content.
All information in this flyer has been provided by The Good Nutrition Co.
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