Food labels, terminology and the law.

What do you think when you read Farm Fresh? You may think this is organic straight from the farm but actually, this is a meaningless term with no legal definition and can mean whatever the manufacturer want it to mean.

Understanding food labels continues from last week, here is part 2...

The main purpose of a food label is to tell the consumer what the food is. By law it must provide certain information including the name of the manufacturer, expiry date, ingredient list, nutritional information and so on.

However, Food terminology can be very confusing and manufacturers can make claims that are perfectly legal but nonetheless misleading. so here is what you need to know...

Processing: A food label must tell us if the food has undergone any kind of process such as smoking or drying such as smoked mackerel or dried apricots.

Pictures: The pictures on food labels must also not mislead. For example, yogurt that has only blueberry flavoring must not have a photo of a blueberry on the packaging. It can, however, have a drawing of a blueberry – a loophole that food manufacturers exploit to their advantage.

Product names: The law also states that the name of the product must not be misleading. Whenever the name of the food contains the word ‘flavor’, the food does not have to contain any of that particular ingredient. So for example ‘Smoky Bacon Flavor Crisps’ do not have to contain any actual bacon, only bacon flavoring. However, a food labelled ‘Cheese and Onion Pasty’ must contain cheese and onion.

Ingredient list: The labels on all foods must list all the ingredients in descending order of weight. Pay attention to this. Looking at the first 2 or 3 ingredients will give you a good indication of what type of food it is – whether it is high in fat or sugar. The list must also tell us how much of an ingredient (what percentage or amount) is contained within the food.

Dates: The dates marked on food labels are an important safeguard against food that may be unfit to eat. They help us to maintain food safety and hygiene. The ‘use by’ date is to inform us that we need to consume this food before that date otherwise they could become a health risk if eaten after the recommended date. While the term ‘best before’ means that you can eat this food after the best before date but it may not be at its best. It would not be dangerous to eat that food after this date

Low fat: Manufacturers use a number of terms which can mislead us customers. Good examples include: Reduced fat, Lower still, Lite or 90% fat free

By law a product can only say it is ‘low fat’ if it contains less than 3 g of fat per 100 g of the product. Other terms such as ‘lower still’ or ‘90% fat free’ could still be high in fat. To say that a food is ‘light’ or ‘lite’, it must be at least 30% lower in calories or fat than standard products. Fat free: The food should contain less than 0.15 g of fat per 100 g of product.

Food labelling terminology , this is where it gets confusing...

Organic: An organic product must consist of 95% organic ingredients and 5% may be made up of specific non-organic foods.

No added sugar: By law, a food label must identify what process the product has undergone during its manufacture. ‘No added sugar’ means no extra sugar was added to the product during manufacture to make it taste sweet. It doesn’t mean, however, that the product doesn’t contain sugar or isn’t a high sugar product. For example, the product might contain fruit or milk, both of which contain natural sugars. artificial sweeteners may also be used in these products.

Farm fresh: This is a meaningless term with no legal definition and can mean whatever the manufacturer wants it to mean.

Beneficial for health: Food labels are not allowed to claim that food can treat, prevent or cure any disease or medical condition.

Unsweetened: Unsweetened means no added sugar or sweetener has been added to make it taste sweet. Again, this does not necessarily mean that the food will not contain natural sugars.

Alcohol free: This means that the product must contain no more than 0.05% alcohol.

Reduced salt: The food should contain less than 0.5 g sodium per 100 g of product. To put that into perspective this amount of sodium is a lot. 0.1 g per 100 g is low and we should aim for no more than 6 g sodium in our total dietary intake per day.

Also watch out for these…

When you hear the words ‘reduced fat’ and ‘less fat’ or ‘less salt’ you think that something is healthy. This is not the case. These words are used to attract us into thinking that they are healthy but what they are actually saying is that they are reduced or less than another or an original version of the same product.

It may be a ‘healthier’ choice, but not necessarily a ‘healthy’ choice. Or ‘all natural ingredients’. The ingredients list does indeed only have natural ingredients, but these include double cream, white wine and chicken fat which are all high in calories and fat.

Some labels play on ingredients. ‘vitamin enriched’. Reading a label like this can make a consumer think “that sounds healthy” but in fact it can still contain high calorie, high fat/ sugar/salt ingredients. Adding vitamins to a food does not turn an unhealthy food into a healthy one.

This Weeks Challenge: Dig deeper to understand your food labels, what is on the ingredient list? Check what the different ingredients and numbers actually mean.