The front of a packet can be another great source of information, though understanding precisely what this information means isn’t always as clear-cut. First of all, you’ll often see a recommended number of portions, which may also be listed on the back of the pack. These are generally a great guideline to follow for the average person when it comes to snack foods and desserts, and they will match up to the traffic light suggestions above. This can help when buying food to make sure you have enough, and that you don’t buy too much. If something is in your house you will eat it, and if two of you are planning on having a dessert one night but there’s four portions in the packet, you’re probably going to have dessert two nights in a row, or just a really big dessert once – both of which may impact your overall calorie balance negatively.
Beyond that, there are some other things you’ll find on labels and a few examples are listed below.
These are not interchangeable. Using a food after the ‘use by’ date could be harmful to your health and should therefore be avoided (and of course the use by date assumes that you follow the storage instructions on the label, i.e. refrigeration after opening). Likewise, the use by date takes president over other information such as ‘use within a week of opening’. Freezing allows you to extend the life of foods with a use by date, but do bear in mind whether a food can be cooked from frozen and if not, defrost and use within 24 hours.
Best before states quality and not safety, so foods eaten after this period will be OK but may not taste as good as they did before, or contain as much micronutritional density due to degradation of the more delicate vitamins. One exception are eggs which are OK to eat after the best before date but should be cooked until the yolks are hard or fully cooked, in case salmonella bacteria could cause you to get ill.
Note: Sell by dates are also included on some packages but these are for the shop to use and not the consumer.
The rest of what you will see on a label are grouped generally as ‘health claims’ which are regulated by legislation put in place by the European Commission in 2007. All health claims must be worded correctly and approved by the commission, as well as being supported by current evidence. Food companies are allowed to make claims about a nutrient’s inclusion or the relative fat content compared to other foods, and they are allowed to call a food healthy so long as that is then backed by another claim (so a food can be called healthy if it’s also lower in added sugars or high in a certain vitamin or mineral). Other terms like ‘part of a balanced breakfast’ are all but meaningless.
To be able to use these words on the front of a food label, the food must be at least 30% lower in at least one typical value (generally calories or fat) than a standard product of the same variety. The label must tell you exactly what is lower and by how much (so “30% fewer calories than our regular cheese”) but it doesn’t have to make all of the information completely obvious and this isn’t a universal good.
A lite food may have 30% less fat, but if it has a lot more added sugar, then the total calorie difference may be minimal. Additionally, some nutrients (fat-soluble vitamins) or some properties such as appetite satiation may be removed due to both an alteration in mouthfeel and an alteration in gut transit time. This is not always the case of course, but it’s worth considering. Good examples are fat free yoghurts which could either be great protein sources or small, watery pots of added sugar. As always, know your food, check the back of packet label, and understand the ingredients in order to make an informed decision.
This is the opposite of the above, so the food must be at least 30% higher in the stated nutrient, and this nutrient must be specified along with the actual increase vs. a comparable product.
This claim goes along with the traffic light system, where the value must have earned the green traffic light.
The food must have less than 0.5g fat per 100g. Some foods may claim to be ‘only 3% fat’ or similar, and of course these would then contain the percentage of fat in grams, per 100g of product (in the example, this would have 3g fat per 100g).
This can be found on products with a somewhat high sodium content that is naturally occurring, such as many dairy products. This may also be worded as ‘salt content due to naturally occurring sodium’. This doesn’t really alter the health impacts of sodium or change anything physiological, but is there rather to inform the consumer that nothing has in fact been added.
This means that the product must have no sugar added as an ingredient (or derivatives thereof) but it does not mean that the food is low in sugar necessarily. Foods with a high natural sugar level such as fruit juice or dried fruit may be unsweetened but still high in sugar, so don’t take this to mean anything more than exactly what it says.
To be a source of fibre a food must have at least 3g of fibre per 100g food or 1.5g fibre per 100kcals, which isn’t all that high. Eating two portions of ‘a source of fibre’ food at each of your three meals will still only total 9g of fibre, less than half of the daily needs of most people. To be high in fibre these values double, so check the back of packet label for absolute values if you are trying to find foods which have a lot of fibre. Generally speaking, the foods with the most fibre: legumes and vegetables, may not have a fibre-based claim at all, so be aware.
To be a source of protein a food must provide at least 12% of its energy in the form of protein, so 3g per 100kcal. This rises to 20% for high in protein, meaning 5g per 100 kcal. Again, this is not necessarily a great guide, especially considering that this does not differentiate between high and low quality proteins, and considering the rapidity at which ‘protein cereals’ and other processed foods are promoting themselves via this loophole despite offering little else in the way of nutritive value.
The fatty acids in the product must be at least 45% of the stated fatty acid, and that fatty acid must provide at least 20% of the total calories.
You may also see claims regarding saturated fat or sugar levels which fall in line with the traffic light system. The important thing to remember here is that these should be taken to mean exactly what they say and nothing more, so a food which is ‘high in protein’ and ‘low in fat’ could be a great option like a chicken breast or some cod, but at the same time it could be a fortified breakfast cereal or high-sugar milkshake. As with all front of pack information these are clues and little else. To really know what you are eating, check the label at the back.