Look around your supermarket today and what do you see? Packets and jars and tins of food screaming “pick me”, “buy me”, “I’m the best”. Packaging promising food that is “a delicious snack the whole family can enjoy”, “full of the goodness of wholesome grains”, “flavour you can see”, “fresh chopped taste”. It all sounds so good.

But spend time browsing the shelves for the most nutritious and healthy products and things start to get confusing: “fresh herbs” in a squeezy tube of stuff that’s only 40 per cent actual herb; concentrated fruit drink containing 25 per cent fruit, of which 10 per cent is fruit peel extract; “lite” cereals higher in kilojoules than their non-lite neighbours. What’s going on?

All the information on food packets can be split into two groups: first, that which manufacturers are legally required to include; and second, that which manufacturing companies choose to include, ie the marketing spiel. The legally required information is really useful in making the best choices for you and your family. The marketing spiel, on the other hand, is designed to entice you to buy and can get in the way of your decision making.

In Australia, the regulation of food labelling (what can and can’t be said about a product) is the domain of Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and is spelled out in the Food Standards Code. Over the past five years, significant changes have been made to the code and more information has become available to consumers.

Legal requirements for all food labels

By law, all food labels must include the following information printed in clear, legible English:

• Product name
• Country of origin
• Use-by/best-before or baked-on date
• List of ingredients
• Nutrition panel
• Allergens
• Contact name and address for feedback and complaints
• The lot or batch number of the product in case of recalls
• Weight or volume in mg or ml.

More explanation of these points will follow, but legally that’s it. The rest of the words, pictures and information is part of the marketing of the product.

What’s in a name?

All products have a name that tells you what you are buying. Manufacturers can choose the name of their product but the name must be accurate and not misleading. For example, “apricot yoghurt” must contain apricot; a chicken pie must contain chicken.

For some products there are simple, legally defined “recipes” — standard formulas that give the basic composition of a particular food stuff: for example, “peanut butter” must contain at least 85 per cent peanuts. Chocolate, bread and icecream are other foods with legally defined recipes.

This ensures that you, the consumer, are not being misled and are getting what you want.

Made in...

According to the Food Standards Code, labels must include the country of origin of that product. So if you want to buy Australian, or believe Spain makes the best olive oil, this part of the Code is designed to help with those choices. Unfortunately, this classification is a bit of a shambles and claims can be misleading. The words “made” and “produced” are not very well defined. However, as a guide, if you want to buy Australian, choose foods labelled “product of Australia”. This means each significant ingredient has come from Australia and all or most of the processing has occurred here. The phrase “made in Australia” means only 50 per cent of production costs have to be incurred in Australia.