Food, Body, Life - Julie Albrecht & Associates Pty Ltd - Consultant Dietitian & Nutritionists - Gold Coast, Brisbane, Australia : Phone 07 5592 4545

Fact Files : How to read food labels

Labels can be confusing and hard to understand. To make healthier food choices check what you are eating by learning to read the information on food products.

Step 1: Read the ingredient list

Ingredients are listed in order from the largest to the smallest amount used, based on the weight of the ingredient.

Step 2: Look for Hidden Ingredients

Sometimes ingredients may be listed by a name you are not familiar with. Check the list below.

FAT	SUGAR	SALT	FIBRE
Animal Fat* Butter Fat* Cocoa Butter* Coconut Oil* Coconut Cream* Copha* Diglycerides Full Cream Milk Ghee* Hydrogenated Fat/Oils* Lard* Margarine Non-Animal Fat Palm oil* Shortening* Solids* Sour Cream* Tallow* Vegetable Fat *High in Saturated Fat	Concentrated Fruit Juice Condensed Milk Corn Syrup Disaccharides Dextrose Dried Fruit Fructose Golden Syrup Glucose Syrup Lactose Malt Extract Maltose Mannitol Molasses Sorbitol Sucrose Treacle Xylitol	Baking Powder Baking Soda Booster Celery Salt Garlic Salt Meat Extract MSG (monosodium glutamate) Onion Salt Rock Salt Sea Salt Sodium Sodium Bicarbonate Sodium Metabisulphite Sodium Nitrate/Nitrite Stock Cubes Vegetable Extract Vegetable Salt Yeast Extract	Bran Barley Barley Bran Buckwheat Hi-Maize Starch Oatbran Resistant Starch Rolled Barley Rolled Oats Rye Wheat Bran Wholegrain Wholemeal Wheatmeal Wholewheat
** If one of these ingredients is listed in the first three ingredients or if the ingredient list contains several of these ingredients, then the food product is likely to be high in saturated fat, sugar or salt.

Step 3: Read the Nutritional Panel

Sometimes it is not clear from the ingredient list whether a product is suitable or not. It is often helpful to read the Nutrition Panel. What to look for per 100g of a product:

Total Fat – less then 10g per 100g.
Saturated Fat – less then 3g per 100g.
Sugars – less then 15g per 100g. If the food contains a natural sugar like fruit (fructose), aim for less then 25g per 100g.
Dietary Fibre – more then 5g or more per 100g.
Sodium – less then 120mg sodium per 100g.

In this example, product 1 is the healthier choice because:

It is lower in saturated fat, added sugar and sodium and is higher in fibre than product 2.

Product 1 is lower in saturated fat, added sugar and sodium and is higher in fibre than Product 2

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