Food labelling is often confusing and incomplete. However, it does contain important nutritional information that is helpful, should you know what you are looking for. Much of the nutritional information parents and consumers are looking for is not on the label, because it is not compulsory.
Front of pack labelling aims to help people make healthier choices for foods lower in total fat, saturated fats, salt and sugar and typically displays this information per portion. This is expressed as a percentage of the recommended healthy eating guidelines for adults, but is unhelpful when selecting foods for younger children. Sugars are especially confusing. Sugars are expressed as individual sugars, also known as mono-saccharides which include glucose and fructose (fruit sugar), and di-saccharides sucrose (table sugar), lactose (milk sugar) and galactose (found in root vegetables and pulses). Although referred to as a sugars, lactose and galactose are not sweet or bad for your teeth.
New food labelling regulation in 2014 included some most helpful information about allergens, which is especially helpful for individuals with food allergy. All food ingredients labels now contain the 14 most common food allergens in bold.
