Information on Food Labels

• Traffic Light Labels

  To help us to make healthier choices, most food and drink products will have a traffic light label on the front. This contains nutritional content on;

  • • • fat
      • saturated fat
      • sugar
      • salt
      • energy (calories).

  The traffic light colours are there to help you quickly and easily make a healthy food choice.

  • • • Green is low = healthier choice
      • Amber is medium = go steady
      • Red is high = every now and again

  Try and choose food and drinks that have more green and amber labels. Choose less items that have red.

  Remember - the manufacturer's idea of a portion may be different from yours.

• Back of Pack Nutrition Labels

  All packaged foods come with a nutrition label on the back or side, this gives you the information you need to know exactly what you're eating.

  This type of label includes information on energy (kJ/kcal), fat, saturates (saturated fat), carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt. 

  It may also provide additional information on certain nutrients, such as fibre. All nutrition information is provided per 100 grams and sometimes per portion.

  Understanding what's in the foods you eat helps you make healthier choices.

  Using the per 100g column makes it easy for you to compare the nutrient content of similar foods. This way you can choose foods with less fat, less sugar or more fibre.

• Best Before & Use By Dates

  Food may contain bacteria and if stored for too long or at the wrong temperature, can cause food poisoning. It’s important to understand the different types of dates and advice on food packaging.

  Depending on the product, you will see one of the two dates on most packaged foods 'Use-by' and' Best before' dates.

  Use-by date - this relates to food safety (bacteria).

  This is the most important date to remember. You can eat food until and on the use-by date but not after. You will see use-by dates on food that goes off quickly, such as meat products or ready-to-eat salads.

  Make sure you follow the storage instructions on the food packet.

  A lot of foods, including meat and milk, can be frozen before the use-by date though, so plan ahead.

  Best before date – this relates to food quality.

  The best before date, sometimes shown as BBE (best before end), is about quality and not safety. The food will be safe to eat after this date but may not be at its best. It’s flavour and texture might not be as good.

  Best before dates appear on a wide range of foods including frozen, dried and tinned foods.

  

• Food Allergies

  It is really important that people with food allergies have all the information they need to quickly and easily decide whether a food is suitable for them to eat.

  On a food ingredient label the allergens are always shown in a bold font so they can be easily read.

  Some food allergies are more common than others. There are 14 common allergens which, must be stand out clearly in the ingredients list.

  The 14 allergens are: celery, cereals containing gluten (such as barley and oats), crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters), eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs (such as mussels and oysters), mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts).

  Find out more about allergies