INTERPRETING FOOD LABELS

Every food product in the supermarket must have a nutrition label on it. This label is called a Nutrition Information Panel or NIP. The only exceptions are fruit and vegetables; very small packages the size of a chewing gum packet; foods that have no significant nutritional value, such as a single herb or spice, tea, and coffee; foods sold unpackaged; and foods that are made and packaged at the point of sale, such as bread from a local bakery.

You can use the NIP to help you locate foods that need to be included in your supermarket trolley, as well as those nasty products that you ought to leave on the supermarket shelf. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) have legislated that food products must display a NIP.

The first useful piece of information to locate on the label is the ingredient list. The ingredients are listed on food labels in their descending order of weight. This means that the ingredient that is listed first is in the food product that is present in the greatest amount and the ingredients listed second is present in the second greatest amount, and so on.

Products must also report the percentages of key ingredients. For example, mango yoghurt must state the percentage (%) of mango in the product, then all of the other ingredients must be listed.

Sometimes the words used to describe the ingredients can be complicated and confusing. There can be different types of a similar ingredient in the food. For instance, did you know that all these words mean sugar: sucrose, fructose, corn syrup solids and cane sugar?

It makes sense to choose products that contain ingredients that you recognise; this way, you are more likely to pick the products that are less processed and closer to nature than others.

THESE WORDS MEAN …

Fat: vegetable oil, animal fat, copha, coconut oil, palm oil, shortening, margarine, butter, lard, beef fat, creamed, toasted, milk solids, oven fried/baked, dripping, monoglycerides, diglycerides, cream, mayonnaise, sour cream

Sugar: raw sugar, brown sugar, honey, corn syrup, malt, golden syrup, glucose, disaccharides, monosaccharides, fructose, sucrose, lactose, maltose, dextrose, molasses, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol

FOOD LABEL CLAIMS

Labels can contain claims about the products with a range of words used that can confuse and distract you when it comes to choosing exactly which food product to add to your trolley. The chart on the opposite page outlines some that you are likely to come across.