ws all the ingredients in descending order by weight, which means the first ingredient weighs the most in the final product.
The characterising ingredients in the food are shown with the percentage they represent in the final product.
Ingredients that can cause food allergy or intolerance need to be declared. These are: peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, milk, eggs, sesame, soy, wheat, lupin, sulphites (when >10mg per kg of food) and gluten-containing ingredients.
Food additives such as thickeners, colours and preservatives must be identified by type plus their name or number. Food additives can also cause allergies and intolerances.
Other information shown in food labels may include: total weight (for solids) or volume (for liquids), country of origin, directions for use and storage if applicable, health star rating and certifications (e.g. organic, low-GI, low-FODMAP, kosher, halal).
How to read food labels
FSANZ has a handy poster on their website called Food labels – What do they mean?. This can help you out find each bit of information in a food package.
However, my goal with this article is to give you tips on how to use the information in food labels to choose better foods.
- Read the product description carefully. For example, if the product says “-flavoured” (e.g. “chicken-flavoured stock”), chances are it doesn’t contain the actual ingredient that precedes that word. Same for words such as “-style” (e.g. “Greek-style yoghurt”).
- Don’t rely on the product description alone. For example, some tuna cans read “tuna with olive oil” but they contain other cheaper oils, often in larger quantities than olive oil.
- In general, don’t trust nutrition and health claims. Rely more on ingredients lists and NIPs.
- When reading NIPs, check that the serve size is realistic. Some manufacturers choose serve sizes to manipulate the number of serves per package or the average amount of energy/nutrients per serve. Examples of unrealistic portion sizes are 1 biscuit (most people eat at least 2) or 1 slice of bread (most people use 2 slices of bread in a sandwich).
- When comparing similar products, use the average nutrient quantity per 100g or mL. This is because serve sizes often vary between products and brands.
- Don’t rely on energy content alone. Low calorie foods are not inherently healthy.
- Many foods with best-before dates will be good to eat past those dates. Foods close to their best-before dates are sold with heavy discounts, so take advantage of this and save some money.
- Always read the ingredients list, especially if you have allergies or intolerances.
- Unless you’re buying a sweetener, avoid foods that have sugar as one of the first few ingredients. Note that some manufacturers include different kinds of sugar so that they can locate them further down below the ingredients list.
- As a general rule, fewer ingredients is better. Little or no additives is better, especially artificial colours and flavours.
- Food Standards Australia & New Zealand. Allergen labelling 2020 [Available from: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/Pages/Allergen-labelling-.aspx.].
- Food Standards Australia & New Zealand. Food additive labelling 2019 [Available from: target=”_blank”>https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/Pages/Labelling-of-food-additives.aspx.].
- Food Standards Australia & New Zealand. Ingredient lists and percentage labelling 2015 [Available from: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/ingredients/Pages/default.aspx.].
- Food Standards Australia & New Zealand. Nutrition content claims and health claims 2016 [Available from: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/nutrition/Pages/default.aspx.].
- Food Standards Australia & New Zealand. Nutrition information panels 2015 [Available from: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/panels/Pages/default.aspx].
- Food Standards Australia & New Zealand. Truth in labelling, weights and measures and legibility 2017 [Available from: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/truth/Pages/default.aspx.].
- Foo