Reading food labels

 

Label reading is an important tool for choosing healthy foods!

 
Nutrition Information Panel
  • The nutrition information panel (NIP) is a comprehensive tool which compares foods calculating exactly how much of each nutrient is in each product.
  • By law, all manufactured foods must have a NIP on their packaging. Foods that are not manufactured or packaged such as fresh fruit and vegetables, or small, single-packet products such as teabags, do not require a NIP.
Morning Breakfast Cereal
Nutrition Information Panel
Servings per package: 3
Serving size: 150g
Serve sizes are determined by the manufacturer, therefore different products have different serve sizes.
  Per serving size
Do not use per serving when comparing with different products. Always use 100g/100ml column. The serve size may not necessarily be the amount that you eat.
 Per 100g
Use per 100g (or 100ml) column as a standard measure when comparing two products of a similar food type.
Energy 608kJ 405kJ
Protein 4.2g 2.8g
Fat
  - Total 7.5g 4.9g
Total Fat
Aim for < 10g/100g.
In milks and yoghurts aim for <2g/100g.
  - Saturated 4.6g 3.0g
Saturated Fat
Aim for as little as possible. Trans fat aim for < 1g/100g in margarines.
Carbohydrate
  - Total
Carbohydrates:
For people with diabetes, you can use this to calculate how many serves of carbohydrate there are in the food. Divide the total carbohydrate number by 15 (15g carbohydrate = 1 carbohydrate serve*).
*Carbohydrate serves
5-10g = 1/2 serve
11-19g = 1 serve
20-25g = 1 1/2 serves
26-34g = 2 serves
 18.6g 12.4g
  - Sugars 18.6g 12.4g
Sugars (added and natural)
For foods with no added sugars, aim for <10g/100g. For foods containing fruit aim for <25g/100g; this number will include naturally occurring sugar found in fruit, fruit juice and milk.
Dietary Fibre 9.3g 3.1g
Fibre
Aim for 5g/100g (excellent) or 3g/100g (good) in breads, cereals and cracker biscuits.
Sodium 90mg 60mg
Salt/Sodium
Look for low salt or no added salt. Aim for 120mg/100g (excellent) or 400mg/100g (good).
Ingredients:
Ingredient List
Ingredients are listed in order of weight in product, from largest to smallest. Fat, sugar and salt should preferably be listed further down the list, which would indicate this is a healthier choice. The nutrition information panel needs to be taken into consideration too, because if salt, fat or sugar are listed near the beginning of the ingredient list, the nutrition information panel will tell you exactly how much of that ingredient is in this product.
 Whole grains (90%)
Key Ingredient
This demonstrates this percentage of key ingredient in the product e.g. grains.
, raw sugar, salt, rolled oats
Wallet Card
You can download a CATCH wallet card to keep in your wallet and use next time you are shopping. You can use it as a guide to choose healthier options. If a product is above these targets levels, it is probable that it is not an everyday food and should be consumed in moderation.
 
Want to practice label reading? Follow this link to the Foodcents virtual supermarket tour to practice reading labels!
 
Ingredient list
 
Fat, sugar, fibre and salt have alternate names which you may not be aware of.
See the table below for alternate names to look out for when reading ingredient lists:
 

Fat

Sugar

Fibre

Salt

Animal fat

Beef fat

Butter fat

Carob coating

Chocolate

Chocolate coating

Coconut

Coconut oil

Cream

Dripping

Hydrogenated oils

Lard

Margarine

Milk solids

Monoglycerides

Nuts

Palm oil

Seeds

Shortening

Tallow

Vegetable fat

Brown sugar

Concentrated fruit juice

Corn syrup

Dextrose

Fructose

Glucose syrup

Golden syrup

Honey

Invert sugar

Lactose

Malt

Malt extract

Maple syrup

Molasses

Raw sugar

Sucrose

Treacle

Barley

Barley bran

BarleyMax

Bran

Buckwheat

Hi-maize starch

Oat bran

Resistant starch

Rolled oats

Rye

Wheat bran

Wheatmeal

Wholegrain

Wholemeal

Wholewheat

Baking powder

Booster

Celery salt

Garlic salt

Meat extract

MSG (monosodium Glutamate, 621)

Onion salt

Rock salt

Sea salt

Sodium

Sodium bicarbonate

Sodium metabisulphite

Stock cubes

Vegetable extract