A Closer Look at Food Labelling

March 12, 2012 | In Health, News

Do you know the difference between ‘flavour’ and ‘flavoured’, or ‘juice’ and ‘juice drink’? And what about ‘light’ and ‘diet’, or ‘pure’, ‘natural’ and ‘free range’? It has taken me quite a while to master the art of reading food labels and I am still confused! You would think this would be a straight forward exercise after all food companies are meant to be helping us make healthy informed decision regarding what foods we purchase and consume but this does not seem the case.

It is undeniable that a level of deception in the food industry exists. Marketers love to shout about the health benefits of their food – seeing that something is good for us can have us reaching for our wallets. But do we really know what this marketing-speak means? An example is low fat products. Some yogurts are advertised as low fat because they have less that 3g of fat per 100g, yet many are loaded with sugar to compensate for the lack of taste. WHICH? a UK publication put the spotlight on ‘creative labelling’ this month by exposing Mark’s and Spencer’s Lochmuir salmon and Tesco’s Willow Farm chicken, according to the atlas these places do not exist! There are other surprises too. A New Covent Garden wild mushroom soup contains only 0.6% wild mushrooms and Quakers Oat So Simple Raspberry and Pomegranate contains no fruit! The WHICH? Survey claimed that supermarkets bombard consumers with labels using creative language such as ‘wholesome’ ‘homemade’ ‘hearty’ ‘farmhouse’ ‘traditional’, the list goes on. So what do all of these colourful words mean to the actual product you are buying….nothing!

There is now growing pressure for greater honesty from an industry built on suggestive terms. What you eat should be what it says on the tin. This can be achieved with an easy labelling system that is honest and has the consumer’s interest at hand. As a result last year new legislation was introduced which ruled food information should not be misleading so strawberry juice for example which contains 90% apple juice will now become ‘apple and strawberry juice’. Neesa Childers an MEP who has lobbied for a traffic light labelling system, a red, amber and green colour code to indicate levels of fat, sugar, saturates and salt in products states ‘we should know exactly what we are eating, how healthy or unhealthy it is and where the main ingredients come from’.

Although these food labelling laws came into effect in 2011, companies have three to five years to update their labels to comply with the new rules. In the mean time what can you do as a consumer to ensure that what you buy is not misleading?

  • Read the labels on your products and ask yourself where the main ingredients come from and are they healthy for my family and me?
  • Check out the ingredient list. Each product should list the ingredients on the label. They are listed from largest to smallest amount (by weight). This means a food contains the largest amount of the first ingredient and the smallest amount of the last ingredient.
  • Do not fall for clever wording as mentioned above
  • Because something says ‘low fat’ it does not mean it is healthy
  • Learn how to read a food label. There are many useful websites that will teach you what to look out for
  • Buy fresh foods and stay clear of processed foods
  • Sugar might be “hiding” on the food labels you’re reading. All of the following terms indicate added sugar. Anything ending in “ose” including Dextrose, Fructose, Lactose, Glucose, Maltose and Sucrose
  • Foods are usually not whole grain products if labelled with these words:
    • Multi-grain
    • Stone ground
    • 100% wheat
    • Cracked wheat
    • Seven-grains
    • Bran
    • Brown (when referring to bread)

Not What is Says on the Tin: A Closer Look at Food Labelling by Caroline Noonan





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