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At a glance

Legal requirements ensure labels have certain information on a food product:

• All products have a name that tells you what you are buying. Manufacturers must choose a name for their product which is accurate and not misleading.
• In 2003 the purpose of the expiry date was changed to refer to the point at which the food actually becomes unsafe to eat.
• Product of Australia” means each significant ingredient has come from Australia and all or most of the processing has occurred here.
• All packaged products must contain an ingredients list in descending order by weight.
• Products must also contain an nutritional information panel which is useful for comparing products and making healthy decisions.

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The lowdown on labels

Kathryn Elliot

07 December 2009. Posted by WellBeing Natural Health & Living News

Nutrition information panel

All food packaging has a nutrition information panel that lists the quantity of various nutrients, both in an average serve and also in 100g or 100ml. This is a really useful tool for comparing products and making decisions about which are the best foods for you. It enables you to check on the protein, fat, carbohydrate, fibre and sodium content of all packaged foods. You can also check the level of saturated fats and how much of the carbohydrate is made up of sugars.

When comparing products, look at the nutrient amounts per 100g or 100ml measurements. Serving sizes vary enormously between products; your idea of a serving size might be entirely different from the manufacturer’s. Manufacturers also sometimes use serving-size measures to show their product in a better light. Some 375ml cans of drink are listed as having 1.88 servings per package, though most people would see a can of drink as one serve. Yoghurts are often guilty of this, with some individual 200g tubs listed as having two serves per package — again, most people would regard it as one serve, particularly given it’s not resealable.

As a guide, when comparing products:

• Low fat is less than 3g of fat per 100g.
• High fibre is at least 4g of fibre per serve (make sure it’s the serving size you would eat, not just the manufacturer’s recommendation).
• Low salt is less than 120mg of sodium per 100g.
• Low sugar is less than 5g of sugar per 100g.

By learning to read and understand nutrition information panels you can select or reject foods that don’t fit your dietary requirements. For example, if you’re trying to watch the fat in your diet, or keep your salt levels in check, or eat more fibre, it’s useful to know what is a lot or a little of each of these.

Allergens

Another change is that many potential allergens are now listed on food labels, no matter how small the amount. If a product contains peanuts, other nuts, seafood, fish, milk, gluten, eggs or soybeans, this must be shown on the label. While an important step for allergy sufferers, in practice it has further restricted the foods available to people with allergies. Instead of ensuring products are safe, many manufacturers take the easy option and label their products “may contain...”. In this way, they can avoid more responsible manufacturing processes such as effectively segregating ingredients during production, cleaning equipment properly and knowing where their ingredients are from.

These play-it-safe strategies mean many people end up avoiding foods because of the potential risk, or alternatively ignoring the warnings altogether, neither of which are satisfactory outcomes.

Organic?

FSANZ does not currently regulate use of the word “organic”. Instead, there’s an industry standard, overseen by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS). AQIS has accredited a number of different bodies to certify organic products, such as the Bio-Dynamic Research Institute (DEMETER), National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA), Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA) and a number of others.

Beware, as there’s a number of foods out there labelled “organic” that are not. To be sure, look for the certifying authority’s logo and accreditation number.

The marketing information

A lot of manufacturers make claims about the nutritional value of their products that blur the boundaries between accuracy and marketing: “rich in the energy food for your body”, “contains the goodness of milk”, “high in dietary fibre to keep your body in great shape”. Phrases like these are emotive, tapping into our desire to be healthy and do the best for ourselves and our family. However they are often meaningless marketing statements, so take most nutrition claims with a grain of salt.

Ask yourself what the nutrition claims are not saying. If a product is promoted as “low in fat”, the marketing may not be telling you that it’s also high in sugar, kilojoules and salt.