Food labelling

Published by Bupa’s Health Information Team, November 2010.

Food labels often provide a lot of useful information about whatever is inside the packaging, but they can be a little hard to decipher at times.

This article explains the main points to look for next time you’re shopping, and one or two pitfalls to watch out for.

Why have food labels?

The aim of food labels is to inform and guide you in the food choices you make. Among other things, they show what each food contains, how fresh it is and how to prepare it. The labels are also there to help you eat more healthily.

Since the 1980s, obesity has trebled in England, and more than half of all adults are now either overweight or obese. Obesity is a major risk factor for high blood pressure, heart attacks, heart failure and diabetes. The Food Standards Agency believes that signposting potentially unhealthy ingredients in food such as salt, sugar and saturated fat can help you to cut your risk of these serious health problems.

What is required by law?

Food labelling is strictly governed by law. It's illegal for labels to carry false information or make misleading claims. For example, only yoghurts that contain strawberries can be called strawberry yoghurt. Otherwise they must be labelled as strawberry-flavour yoghurt.

Food manufacturers and retailers are legally obliged to put certain information on food labels to protect and help people understand what’s in the food they are buying. This information includes the following.

• A list of ingredients, starting with the one that there is most of and ending with the one that the food contains least of.
• The weight or volume of the product.
• The name of the food. Foods with a brand name must also carry a clear description of that food. If the food has been processed, this must be clearly stated on the label (for example, ‘smoked salmon’ or ‘dried apricots’).
• Storage instructions, which must tell you the best way to keep foods so they don’t go off.
• A use-by date on foods that go off quickly (such as meat and fish) to tell you how long the food can safely be kept in the recommended storage conditions. It’s important to stick to the use-by date so you don’t get food poisoning. Some foods also have a best before date. After this date, the food may lose some of its flavour or texture so it’s no longer at its ‘best’, but it's unlikely to make you ill.
• Clear instructions for preparation and cooking.
• The name and address of the manufacturer so you that if you want to, you can find out more about the product.
• The lot or batch number, which is a code that can identify batches of food if they have to be recalled by the manufacturer, packer or producer. A date mark is sometimes used as a lot mark, or a lot mark may be indicated by the letter ‘L’.
• Any genetically modified ingredients must be listed (this doesn't apply to meat, milk and eggs that come from animals that have been fed with genetically modified products).

Nutritional information

Food manufacturers don’t legally have to show nutritional information on food labels, unless the food makes a nutritional claim such as ‘low-fat’. However, many manufacturers provide a breakdown of how much energy (calories), protein, carbohydrates, fat, fibre and salt (sodium) each food contains, which can help you shop more healthily. There are two main systems for showing nutritional information – these are the traffic light system and the guideline daily amounts (GDA) system.

Traffic light system

This system is recommended by the Food Standards Agency. It uses the colours red, amber and green to show how much sugar, salt, fat and saturated fat a food contains, along with the number of grams of each in one serving.

Green, amber and red indicate low, medium and high amounts respectively so that you can see at a glance how healthy a food is. The idea is to choose more items with green lights and fewer with red lights.

Guideline daily amounts system

This alternative food labelling system was developed independently by a group of large food retailers. GDAs tell you how much sugar, salt, fat and saturated fat you can have in one day. Labels that use this system show how many grams of each of these things there are in a portion of food, but they aren’t colour-coded.

This system also tells you what percentage of your GDA for sugar, salt, fat and saturated fat the food contains. For example, the label below shows that this food contains 6.3g of sugar. The GDA for sugar for the average UK woman is 90g, so this particular food will provide seven percent of her recommended GDA. Generally the packaging shows GDA values for adult women but childhood GDA values are used on products that have been designed specifically for children.

Action points

• Check ingredients carefully if you have a food allergy – many, but not all, common causes of food allergies and intolerances must be listed as ingredients by law and labels don’t always carry specific allergy warnings.
• Stick to use-by dates, as the risk of food poisoning increases once these dates have passed.
• Even if a label makes a nutritional claim such as ‘low-fat’, check the nutritional information carefully.
• Follow storage, defrosting and cooking instructions carefully to make sure you don’t risk getting food poisoning.

For sources and links to further information, see Resources.