Food Labels

With major food companies trying to sell healthy, low fat foods often laced with sugar and many so called ‘diet gurus’ telling you what you can and can't eat - it can be difficult to know exactly what is healthy.

Food labels are there to help consumers, but sometimes they can be hard to decipher and occasionally they can be misleading. We all live busy lives but spending a little bit of time in the supermarket comparing products by reading labels can help you make a more informed choice.

Here are our top tips when it comes to deciphering food labels:

1. Most companies use the ‘Traffic Light System,’ which is a great way to make healthier choices quickly. You just need to know what you are looking for. Red indicates that the food is high in energy, fats, sugar or salt. It’s fine to eat this food occasionally or as a treat so be mindful of the frequency. Amber means medium so the food is an okay choice whilst green means it’s low, making it the healthiest choice. Often food labels will have a combination of colours so try and stick with mostly greens and ambers to make a healthier choice.

2. It is important when reading labels you know whether you are reading the nutritional content per portion or per 100g as this can make a huge difference! Per 100g can help you compare different products whereas per portion will give you a better idea to what you are actually eating. Be careful of the portion size stated though – often this can be much smaller than you would think.

3. A great way to check how healthy a product is, is to look at the ingredients list. Ingredients are listed in order of weight so expect to see the main ingredients listed first. If these first few ingredients are oil, butter or cream then the food in question is likely to be high in fat.

4. Food companies often make claims, and although these claims have to meet a certain criteria, they can still be misleading. A great example of this is a product claiming to be low in fat. Although a true statement, what the company fails to advertise is that they have replaced the fat with sugar, making it no healthier and often more expensive! Another example is when companies use the words ‘light/lite’. In order to claim a food is ‘light/lite’ it needs to contain 30% less calories or fat as the standard version. You may be surprised to find though, that a ‘light/lite’ packet of crisps can contain the same amount of fat or calories as the standard version of another brand.

This food-shopping card from the Food Standards Agency is a great little tool to keep in your purse or wallet.

In order to make an informed decision and so that you aren’t led astray by misleading health claims, make sure you check the label!